A Nigerian citizen who helped lead a scheme to steal employee tax data and file fraudulent tax returns was sentenced Monday to 40 months in prison in U.S. District Court in Seattle, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
Onomen Uduebor, also known as Onomen Onohi, 39, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in April 2025.
Uduebor was extradited from the United Kingdom in March after his arrest in September 2023.
He will likely be deported to Nigeria after completing his sentence.
U.S. District Judge James L. Robart issued the sentence, noting Uduebor’s significant role in the fraud.
“He freely participated in the fraud and had a substantial role in the scheme,” Robart said. “Thirty years old is not a young man and he ought to have known better.”
Federal prosecutors said Uduebor was part of a group that tricked companies across the U.S.—including one based in Tukwila—into sending W-2 wage and tax forms by impersonating executives in email phishing scams.
When an HR employee questioned the legitimacy of the request, one of the conspirators would follow up posing as the CEO and pressure them into complying.
Once they obtained the W-2s, conspirators filed over 300 fake tax returns seeking more than $1 million in refunds.
Uduebor admitted to personally filing about 150 of those false returns and helped monitor the refunds as they were funneled into bank accounts opened in the names of the identity theft victims.
Although the IRS stopped many of the false filings, approximately $140,000 in fraudulent refunds was paid out before the scheme was disrupted.
Uduebor claimed he received just $10,000 from the operation.
The IRS was able to recover some funds, and Uduebor has been ordered to pay $122,720 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury and forfeit the $10,000 he admitted to earning.
“This defendant participated in a conspiracy that involved tricking companies around the United States, including a Tukwila-based company, into providing W-2 information on their employees,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. “This conduct damaged companies, employees, and the Internal Revenue Service.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Miriam Hinman, who prosecuted the case, said in court filings that victims suffered ongoing stress and financial consequences. “Taxpayers had trouble filing their real tax returns, and they expended a large amount of time and emotional energy on resolving their tax situation,” she wrote.
Uduebor told the court, “I have read the victim impact statements and I know an apology is not enough…. I was desperate to succeed in my music career. It is not an excuse, but it is the truth.”
The Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) led the investigation.
The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs assisted with Uduebor’s extradition.
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