An illegal alien living in the sanctuary city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced for stealing Americans’ identities to collect more than $800,000 in tax refunds.
Abdou Koudos Adissa, an illegal alien from the Republican of Benin, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for his part in a tax fraud scheme, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
According to court records, Adissa was convicted of conspiring to commit access device fraud in March for his involvement in the tax scheme that ran from February to June 2014. During that time, Adissa was a part of a group that stole Americans’ identities to file tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.
Adissa’s co-conspirators filed the fraudulent tax returns, stealing more than $800,000 in refunds which was then deposited onto Green Dot pre-paid debit accounts. That money was eventually sent to Nigeria through Western Union.
When federal officials raided Adissa’s apartment in Philadelphia, they found 106 of the Green Dot cards. The illegal alien registered all the debit cards using stolen American IDs before giving co-conspirators the cards’ direct deposit information so they would be able to direct the fraudulent tax refunds to the cards.
Adissa called Western Union some 63 times to transfer the stolen $800,000 to Nigeria.
Following Adissa’s release from federal prison, he will be handed over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for deportation.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.