"Chukwuemeka Amachukwu believed he was operating safely offshore when he targeted his victims, but he has now been held to account and now faces a serious sentence for his crimes," said US Attorney Jamie McDonald in a Monday press release.
Who was charged: Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu and accomplices
Forty-year-old Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu — also recorded in court documents under the names Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo and So Kwan Leung — was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud. Amachukwu was extradited from France to the United States in August 2025 and entered his plea following that transfer. The case names co-defendant Kingsley Uchelue Utulu and "other Nigerian co-conspirators" as part of the group that carried out the schemes.
How the attacks were carried out: spearphishing and credential access
Court documents describe a multi-year campaign of spearphishing directed at tax preparation businesses beginning in 2019 and continuing through 2021. According to the record, Amachukwu and his associates launched targeted emails that gained unauthorized access to victims' computers, allowing the group to steal tax records and personally identifiable information (PII). The intrusions affected tax-preparation firms in New York, Texas, and other U.S. states and resulted in the theft of PII for at least 800 customers.
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End the scrambleMonetary impact: fraudulent refunds, SBA loans, and a separate investment fraud
The documents attribute several revenue streams to the conspirators' activity. Using stolen identity information, they filed fraudulent tax and loan applications with the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities and obtained:
- about $2.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds after filing for $8.4 million in refunds, and
- $819,000 through fraudulent loan applications with the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.
Separately, Amachukwu was involved in a fake investment scheme that offered potential U.S. victims purported investments in valuable standby letters of credit that did not exist; more than $7 million was stolen from multiple victims in that scheme, according to the court record.
Sentence, restitution, and forfeiture ordered by the court
The court imposed an eight-year prison term and one year of supervised release on Amachukwu. Financially, the defendant was ordered to pay $3.6 million in restitution and to forfeit nearly $11 million. Those sums sit alongside the criminal convictions for conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud recorded after his extradition in August 2025.
What this means for tax-preparation firms, the Small Business Administration, and victims
- Tax-preparation firms: The campaign targeted firms' systems directly, producing unauthorized access and the theft of PII for at least 800 customers; firms that process client tax data remain a direct target for spearphishing that can be converted into fraudulent filings.
- The Small Business Administration (SBA): Fraudsters used the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program as a vector, obtaining $819,000 through fraudulent applications — a clear example of how third-party relief programs can be abused when identity data has been compromised.
- Victims and customers whose data was taken: The court identified more than $3 million taken through tax- and loan-related fraud and over $7 million taken in a separate investment scam; the ordered $3.6 million in restitution and the nearly $11 million forfeiture are the court's financial remedies tied to the conviction.
The criminal record in this case ties a set of spearphishing intrusions that began in 2019 to concrete financial losses and a cross-border law-enforcement response that culminated in extradition from France in August 2025. The eight-year sentence, supervised release, restitution and forfeiture together mark a significant judicial reckoning for the defendant — and they document the multiple ways stolen identity data can be monetized, from false tax refunds and disaster loans to outright investment fraud.
