Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Decide Charlene E. Honeywell has sentenced Allen Levinson, previously often called Allen Ameh, to 6 years and 6 months in federal jail for wire fraud conspiracy associated to his orchestration of a large-scale worldwide tax fraud scheme. Levinson, a resident of Nigeria, was arrested on December 2, 2020, whereas trying to enter the UK. He was extradited to the US and pleaded responsible upon his arrival on February 3, 2022.
In line with court docket paperwork, Levinson was the chief of a scheme that tried to defraud the US authorities of greater than $63 million by means of the submitting of false and fraudulent tax returns within the names of tons of of identification theft victims. The scheme operated from summer season 2014 by means of 2019. Out of the $63 million claimed in tax refunds, the IRS paid over $5.5 million, nearly all of which went to Levinson.
Levinson recruited coconspirators T’Andre McNeely, Brandon Williams, Michael Carr, and others—by means of job placement adverts and phrase of mouth—to gather the proceeds of the tax fraud and ship it to Levinson.
Levinson used refined cyber means to acquire the non-public information used to file the returns. He additionally employed different overseas nationals—together with people positioned in a boiler room in Vietnam—to arrange and file the returns shortly and in giant batches. The returns had been filed from actual licensed accounting companies throughout the US, all of whom had been hacked by third events and infrequently had their data offered on darkweb marketplaces, together with an internet site previously often called the xDedic Market. The xDedic Market was an internet site that operated for years and was used to promote entry to compromised computer systems worldwide and personally identifiable data of U.S. residents.
U.S. District Decide Kathryn Kimball Mizelle beforehand sentenced three of Levinson’s cash laundering associates in a associated indictment. McNeely and Carr had been every sentenced to 6 years and 6 months’ imprisonment. Williams was sentenced to at least one yr and sooner or later in jail.
“For too lengthy, Levinson, and cyber criminals like him worldwide believed utilizing darknet marketplaces and cryptocurrencies gave them anonymity from regulation enforcement. Immediately’s vital sentencing makes it clear that IRS-CI particular brokers and our companions have the subtle instruments to take away the so known as cloak of anonymity to carry these fraudsters to justice, “ stated IRS-CI Appearing Particular Agent in Cost Ronald A. Loecker.
“The FBI and its regulation enforcement companions won’t ever stop of their efforts to guard the American folks by exposing cyber schemes and bringing the fraudsters, regardless of the place they attempt to conceal, to justice,” stated FBI Tampa Division Particular Agent in Cost David Walker.
This case was investigated by the Inner Income Service – Legal Investigation’s Tampa and Oakland Area Workplaces, and the FBI Tampa Area Workplace. Particular help was supplied by the IRS – CI Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles Area Workplaces, and Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI), Tampa Area Workplace. Substantial help was additionally supplied by the Division of Justice’s Workplace of Worldwide Affairs. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Lawyer Rachel Jones.
