U.S. Seeks to Revoke Citizenship of Nigerian Fraudster

The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated a civil complaint in the U.S.

District Court in Baltimore, Maryland, seeking to revoke the citizenship of Emmanuel Oluwatosin Kazeem, a Nigerian national convicted of orchestrating a large-scale identity theft and tax fraud scheme. Kazeem was convicted in 2017 on 19 counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a sentence later commuted by former President Joe Biden in 2024 after he served six years.

The complaint alleges that Kazeem unlawfully obtained American citizenship by concealing his criminal conduct and engaging in a sham marriage to acquire permanent residency. His fraudulent activities reportedly began in 2013, leading to the filing of fake federal and state tax returns using stolen identities from approximately 259,000 victims, resulting in $11.6 million in fraudulent refunds.

The investigation, which involved multiple agencies including the FBI and IRS, uncovered Kazeem's connections to Vietnamese hackers and substantial financial transactions linked to his fraudulent activities.