A Nigerian citizen aged approximately 40, Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu (also known as Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo and So Kwan Leung), has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a United States federal court for his role in computer hacking, identity theft and large scale fraud schemes that targeted American tax preparation businesses and sought millions of dollars.
The sentence was imposed on 19 October 2026 by United States District Judge Paul G. Gardephe in the Southern District of New York. Amachukwu had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The announcement was made by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
According to court filings and the statement from the United States Attorney’s Office, Amachukwu and his co conspirators, including Kingsley Uchelue Utulu, began in or about 2019 using spear phishing emails to gain unauthorised access to the electronic systems of United States tax preparation businesses located in New York, Texas and other states. Once inside the systems, they stole tax and other personal identifying information belonging to approximately 800 customers of several of the businesses, and overall obtained the identity information of thousands of individuals.
The stolen data was used to file fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities. The conspirators sought fraudulent refunds of at least approximately 8.4 million dollars, of which they successfully obtained at least approximately 2.5 million dollars. They also used the stolen identities to submit fraudulent claims under the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan programme, obtaining at least an additional approximately 819,000 dollars in illicit payments.
In a separate scheme, Amachukwu offered United States victims investments in purportedly valuable standby letters of credit. He impersonated a wealthy overseas financier under the alias So Kwan Leung in order to persuade victims to invest. The investments did not exist, and Amachukwu and his co conspirators obtained more than 7 million dollars from the scheme.
Amachukwu was extradited from France to the United States in 2025 before entering his guilty plea.
United States Attorney Jamie McDonald stated: “Chukwuemeka Amachukwu believed he was operating safely offshore when he targeted his victims, but he has now been held to account and faces a serious sentence for his crimes. Amachukwu took part in sophisticated schemes to hack into United States businesses, steal and use stolen identity information of victims, and commit fraud. These crimes imposed significant harm on the victims and the public, and so it is only appropriate that the crimes also come with a significant sentence for the defendant.”
In addition to the eight year prison term, Amachukwu was sentenced to one year of supervised release. He was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of 3,647,629.39 dollars and to forfeit 10,846,634.39 dollars.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel G. Nessim of the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
By John James
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