US Justice Department Files to Revoke Citizenship of Nigerian Identity Theft Mastermind

In a civil denaturalization complaint, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Emmanuel Oluwatosin Kazeem led a massive identity theft and tax fraud ring. Convicted in 2017 on 19 counts—including mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy—he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. President Biden later commuted his sentence in 2024 after six years served. An IRS investigation resulted in search warrants at homes in Illinois, Maryland, and Georgia. Agents seized electronic devices, prepaid debit cards, money orders, and cash tied to the scheme. These operations helped authorities confirm Kazeem as the ringleader. Officials say the fraud used stolen personal data from over 259,000 victims. Kazeem is accused of buying more than 91,000 identities from a foreign hacker and distributing them to co-conspirators, who filed bogus tax returns between 2012 and 2015.

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