A Nigerian man, Onomen Uduebor, who was sentenced to over three years in a U.S. prison for tax refund fraud, told a U.S. District Court that desperation to succeed in his music career drove him to commit the crime.
According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice, Uduebor, 39, was sentenced on Monday to three years and four months (40 months) in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy that defrauded the U.S. government of tax refunds. He had been extradited from the United Kingdom following his indictment.
The fraud, which occurred between 2016 and 2017, involved Uduebor and several accomplices using fraudulent emails to impersonate employees and request sensitive data from Human Resources departments of various U.S. companies. The group then used the stolen information from W-2 tax forms to file over 300 fake tax returns, seeking more than $1 million in refunds.
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The statement revealed that Uduebor alone filed 150 of the bogus returns and managed the tracking of payments to accounts opened in victims’ names. Although the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) paid out around $140,000, Uduebor claimed he received only $10,000 from the scheme. The IRS later recovered a portion of the stolen funds, with the total restitution owed set at $122,720.
Uduebor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced by Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court.
During sentencing, Judge Robart criticized Uduebor’s actions:
“He freely participated in the fraud and had a substantial role in the scheme. Thirty years old is not a young man, and he ought to have known better.”
Referencing one of the companies targeted in Tukwila, Washington, the judge noted that the conspiracy tricked businesses across the U.S. into surrendering sensitive employee data.
When asked to respond to victim impact statements, Uduebor expressed remorse but offered insight into his motivation:
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“I have read the victim impact statements, and I know an apology is not enough. I was desperate to succeed in my music career. It is not an excuse, but it is the truth.”
The Department of Justice noted that Uduebor may suffer from depression after serving his sentence. He was arrested in the UK in September 2023, extradited to the U.S. in March 2025, and pleaded guilty in April.
He is expected to be deported to Nigeria after completing his prison term.
