The United States Department of Justice has filed a civil complaint seeking to strip a Nigerian-born man, Emmanuel Oluwatosin Kazeem, of his American citizenship over allegations that he fraudulently obtained it while engaging in a massive identity theft and tax fraud operation.
In a statement released on Monday, the department disclosed that the case was filed before the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Maryland.
According to U.S. authorities, Kazeem allegedly concealed his criminal activities during the process of obtaining American citizenship, making him legally ineligible for naturalisation.
Kazeem was convicted in 2017 on 19 criminal counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit fraud.
He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for orchestrating a large-scale fraud network that reportedly targeted U.S. tax authorities and thousands of victims.
However, his prison sentence was later commuted in 2024 by former U.S. President Joe Biden after spending approximately six years behind bars.
Commenting on the latest legal action, Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate stated that the U.S. government remains committed to revoking citizenship obtained through fraud and deception.
“The Trump Administration will not permit wrongdoers to retain the U.S. citizenship that they were never entitled to in the first place,” Shumate said.
He further described American citizenship as a privilege that can be withdrawn if obtained unlawfully.
According to court filings, investigators alleged that Kazeem’s fraudulent activities began before he became a naturalised U.S. citizen and continued afterwards.
The Justice Department also accused him of entering into a sham marriage to secure permanent residency before later marrying another woman, an action authorities claimed further disqualified him from obtaining citizenship.
The investigation reportedly began in 2013 after a resident of Medford, Oregon, alerted the Internal Revenue Service that fraudulent tax returns had been filed using her family’s personal information.
Authorities later executed search warrants in Illinois, Maryland, and Georgia, where investigators reportedly recovered prepaid debit cards, money orders, electronic devices, and cash connected to fraudulent tax refunds.
The Justice Department alleged that the evidence gathered during the investigation identified Kazeem as “the leader and mastermind” of the operation.
Investigators further claimed that the syndicate possessed stolen personal data belonging to more than 259,000 victims.
Authorities also alleged that Kazeem purchased over 91,000 identities from a Vietnamese hacker who breached the database of an Oregon-based company.
According to the complaint, Kazeem and his associates used the stolen identities to submit fraudulent tax returns between 2012 and 2015 while also obtaining thousands of electronic filing PINs to bypass IRS security systems.
The department stated that Kazeem was linked to more than 10,000 fraudulent federal tax returns that attempted to secure over $91 million in refunds, with approximately $11.6 million reportedly paid out successfully.
Authorities additionally alleged that over 2,000 wire transfers worth more than $2.1 million were sent to Nigeria, with more than 700 transfers allegedly tied directly to Kazeem.
The Justice Department also accused him of using proceeds from the fraud scheme to finance luxury investments, including a nearly $200,000 down payment for a newly built house in the United States and an attempted investment in a proposed $6 million four-star hotel project in Lagos.
Investigators further alleged that shortly before his arrest in 2015, Kazeem transferred ownership interests in some U.S. properties to his sister in Nigeria for just $10.
The case was jointly investigated by agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The denaturalisation proceedings are now expected to continue under the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation.
