Boston, USA – A Nigerian national has been sentenced to eight years in a United States prison and ordered to pay $1.39 million in restitution for his role in a scheme that targeted Massachusetts tax preparation firms and sought over $8.1 million in fraudulent tax refunds.
Okay News reports that Matthew Akande, 37, was extradited from the United Kingdom in March 2025 following his arrest at Heathrow Airport in October 2024. The FBI Cyber Division confirmed the sentencing via an X post on Saturday, citing statements from U.S. authorities. Between June 2016 and June 2021, Akande and accomplices stole personal information from tax firms using phishing emails and remote access trojans. They filed more than 1,000 fraudulent tax returns, with portions of refunds transferred to Mexico at Akande’s direction.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Akande to eight years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs coordinated with U.K. authorities to secure his extradition. Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Holcomb prosecuted the case. Federal authorities successfully recovered over $1.3 million in stolen refunds.
Akande was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on July 19, 2022, for conspiracy to access protected computers, wire fraud, theft of government money, and aggravated identity theft. A co-conspirator, Kehinde H. Oyetunji, 33, pleaded guilty in December 2022 to conspiracy and theft of government money, with sentencing pending.
The extradition is part of a broader trend of Nigerian nationals facing U.S. charges for cybercrime and fraud. In February 2026, Afeez Olatunji Adewale, 26, was extradited from Nigeria over sexual extortion charges in Pennsylvania. In August 2025, Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu was extradited from France for alleged tax fraud and hacking schemes. In September 2025, Farouk Adekunle Adepoju was arrested in the U.K. following a U.S. extradition request for allegedly defrauding a Pennsylvania university of $235,266.80. These cases highlight growing international cooperation in combating cross-border cybercrime.
