By Our Reporter
The United States Department of Justice has filed a civil complaint to strip a Nigerian national, Emmanuel Oluwatosin Kazeem, of his United States citizenship over his alleged role in a large-scale identity theft and tax fraud scheme.
In a statement on Thursday, the Justice Department said Kazeem orchestrated a network that targeted more than 259,000 victims and attempted to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of over $91 million.
The case, filed at a U.S. District Court in Baltimore, alleges that he unlawfully obtained American citizenship by concealing his criminal activities during the naturalisation process.
Kazeem was convicted in 2017 on 19 counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. He, however, served six years before his sentence was commuted in December 2024 by former U.S. President, Joe Biden, as part of a broader clemency initiative.
According to prosecutors, his criminal activities spanned both before and after he became a U.S. citizen, rendering him ineligible for naturalisation. He is also accused of obtaining residency through a sham marriage before entering another union, in violation of immigration rules.
Investigations into the scheme began in 2013 after a victim reported fraudulent tax filings. Subsequent operations across multiple states led to the recovery of cash, prepaid debit cards and electronic devices linked to the fraud network.
Authorities said Kazeem purchased more than 91,000 stolen identities from a foreign hacker and distributed them among accomplices, using them to file over 10,000 fraudulent tax returns. The operation reportedly generated more than $11.6 million, with at least $2.1 million transferred to Nigeria.
Prosecutors described him as the mastermind of the scheme, alleging that he used proceeds from the fraud to acquire luxury properties in Maryland and attempted to invest in a multi-million-dollar hotel project in Lagos.
The Justice Department maintained that U.S. citizenship is a privilege and vowed to revoke any status obtained through fraudulent means as the case progresses.
