An eight-year prison sentence has been imposed on a Nigerian national for orchestrating spearphishing campaigns that targeted American tax preparation businesses over a three-year span beginning in 2019.
Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu, 40, who also operated under the aliases Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo and So Kwan Leung, entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud. He was brought to the United States following his extradition from France in August 2025.
Chukwuemeka Amachukwu believed he was operating safely offshore when he targeted his victims, but he has now been held to account and now faces a serious sentence for his crimes.
US Attorney Jamie McDonald
Amachukwu took part in sophisticated schemes to hack into US 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.
US Attorney Jamie McDonald
The Attack Campaign
Working alongside co-defendant Kingsley Uchelue Utulu and additional Nigerian conspirators, Amachukwu directed spearphishing operations against tax preparation companies across New York, Texas, and other states from 2019 through 2021. The attackers gained illicit entry to their targets' systems and extracted tax records and personally identifiable information belonging to approximately 800 customers.
Financial Impact
Court filings reveal that Amachukwu and his network obtained more than $3 million by submitting false tax and loan applications to the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities, leveraging the stolen personal data of their victims.
The breakdown of illicit proceeds included approximately $2.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds, obtained after filing requests totaling $8.4 million. An additional $819,000 was extracted through fraudulent applications to the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
Beyond these schemes, Amachukwu participated in a counterfeit investment operation that promised US targets opportunities to invest in purported standby letters of credit with significant value. The investments were entirely fabricated, and the perpetrators siphoned more than $7 million from numerous victims through this deception.
Sentencing and Restitution
In addition to the eight-year prison term, the court imposed one year of supervised release following his incarceration. Amachukwu was ordered to pay $3.6 million in restitution to victims and forfeit approximately $11 million in criminal proceeds.