Onomen Uduebor, a 38-year-old Nigerian citizen, was arrested and extradited from the UK to the United States to face charges in a wire fraud scheme involving stolen tax information. Uduebor was arraigned on Friday, March 7, 2025, in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, as announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
Uduebor faces a three-count indictment related to a scheme where income tax data was stolen and used for fraudulent activities. The indictment, originally filed in 2019, was unsealed on the day of Uduebor’s arraignment.
Uduebor pleaded “not guilty,” and his trial is scheduled for May 12, 2025, before U.S. District Judge James L. Robart.
The charges allege that Uduebor was part of a conspiracy that tricked companies across the U.S., including one in Tukwila, Washington, into providing employees’ W-2 information. The conspirators then used this data to file fraudulent tax returns under the employees’ names, claiming large refunds and causing significant issues for the victims whose Social Security numbers were stolen, said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller.
The indictment details that between February 2016 and April 2017, the conspirators used fake emails appearing to come from company executives to request W-2 data from Human Resources departments. These emails were manipulated so that replies were sent to an address controlled by the conspirators.
Using the stolen W-2 data, the conspirators filed over 300 false tax returns, seeking more than $1 million in fraudulent refunds. This scheme targeted companies across the U.S.
Uduebor is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The wire fraud charges carry a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, while the aggravated identity theft charge mandates a minimum of two years in prison, to be served consecutively to any sentence for wire fraud.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and Uduebor is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Miriam Hinman.
Uduebor was arrested in the UK in September 2023, with valuable assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs during the extradition process.
