Leader of Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison

ERIE, Pa. - A New York resident has been sentenced in federal court to 60 months in jail on his conviction of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.

United States District Judge David S. Cercone imposed the sentence on Adebola Mejule, 58, of Hempstead, New York.

According to information presented to the court, Mejule was one of the leaders of a vast conspiracy to use stolen identities to fraudulently obtain federal income tax refunds. Mejule stole identities from his employer, New York Social Services, and gave them to two co-defendants to use to prepare fraudulent tax returns. Mejule then opened bank accounts using stolen identities and directed others to open bank accounts using stolen identities. The bank accounts were then used as repositories for the electronic deposit of the fraudulently obtained federal income tax refunds. Mejule would then have the account holders return the lion’s share of the fraudulently obtained refunds to him. All told the conspirators utilized the stolen identities of over 11,000 victims and opened more than 1,000 bank accounts across the United States with stolen identities.

Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Brady commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Mejule.