Local Musician Sentenced on Stolen Identity Tax Refund Scheme

St. Louis, MO – Olufunsho Adeshina, a native of Nigeria residing in St. Louis, was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment for his participation in a stolen identity tax fraud scheme. 

According to court documents, Adeshina received $753,063 from more than fifty refunds by filing false tax returns in the name of various individuals.  The refunds were sent to various financial accounts: some were in Adeshina’s name, some were in the names of businesses he controlled and some were in the names of identity theft victims whose information Adeshina used to establish additional accounts.  Adeshina admitted he sought more than $3.5 million dollars in refunds, but most of the false returns were caught and not honored by the IRS.

Adeshina was sentenced for one felony count of theft of government funds before United States District Judge Rodney W. Sippel.  Adeshina has been in federal custody since April when he was arrested at Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport returning to the United States from Nigeria.  In addition to the sentence of imprisonment, Adeshina was ordered to pay $753,063 in restitution to the IRS.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.