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A Nigerian man, Matthew A. Akande, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for orchestrating a cyber scheme that targeted tax preparation firms and defrauded the U.S. government of more than $1.3 million.
This was made known in a statement shared on the U.S Government website on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Akande, 37, who had been living in Mexico, received the sentence on Tuesday in a federal court in Boston from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani. He was also ordered to pay $1,393,230 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.
The statement said, “A Nigerian national living in Mexico, who was extradited to the United States, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his role in a scheme to break into Massachusetts tax preparation firms’ computer networks and to file fraudulent tax returns.
“Matthew A. Akande, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to eight years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Akande was also ordered to pay $1,393,230 in restitution.”
Authorities said Akande was arrested in October 2024 at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom at the request of U.S. officials and extradited on March 5, 2025.
He had also been indicted in July 2022 on multiple charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, unauthorized computer access, theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft.
“Akande was arrested in October 2024 at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom at the request of the United States and extradited to the United States on March 5, 2025.
“Akande was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2022 with one count of conspiracy to obtain unauthorized access to protected computers in furtherance of fraud and to commit theft of government money and money laundering; one count of wire fraud; four counts of unauthorized access to protected computers in furtherance of fraud; 13 counts of theft of government money; and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft,” the statement further said.
Investigators said that between June 2016 and June 2021, Akande and his accomplices used phishing emails and malicious software to infiltrate computer systems belonging to tax preparation firms in Massachusetts.
The emails posed as messages from prospective clients but were designed to trick recipients into installing remote-access trojan malware, including a program known as Warzone RAT.
“Between in or about June 2016 and June 2021, Akande worked with others to steal money from the United States government using taxpayers’ personally identifiable information (PII) to file fraudulent tax returns in the taxpayers’ names. The scheme also involved stealing taxpayers’ PII from Massachusetts tax preparation firms via phishing attacks and computer intrusions.
“To carry out the scheme, Akande caused fraudulent phishing emails to be sent to five Massachusetts tax preparation firms. The emails purported to be from a prospective client seeking the tax preparation firms’ services but in truth were used to trick the firms into downloading remote access trojan malicious software (RAT malware), including malware known as Warzone RAT,” the statement also said.
Using the stolen data, the group obtained clients’ personal information and prior-year tax records, then filed more than 1,000 fraudulent tax returns seeking over $8.1 million in refunds.
“Akande used the RAT malware to obtain the PII and prior year tax information of the tax preparation firms’ clients, which Akande then used to cause fraudulent tax returns to be filed seeking refunds.
“The tax returns directed that the fraudulent tax refunds be deposited in bank accounts opened by coconspirators in the United States. Once the refunds were issued, those coconspirators withdrew the stolen money in cash in the United States and then transferred a portion to third parties in Mexico, at Akande’s direction, while keeping a portion for themselves,” the statement continues.
Prosecutors said more than $1.3 million was successfully paid out into accounts controlled by co-conspirators in the United States, who withdrew the cash and forwarded a portion to contacts in Mexico at Akande’s direction.
“In total, Akande and his coconspirators filed more than 1,000 fraudulent tax returns seeking over $8.1 million in fraudulent tax refunds over approximately five years. They successfully obtained over $1.3 million in fraudulent tax refunds,” the statement added.
