TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that four men were indicted today on charges
they conspired to steal more than $435,000
by filing hundreds of fraudulent state income
tax returns using stolen and fictitious identities.
According
to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni,
the Division of Criminal Justice Major Crimes
Bureau obtained a state grand jury indictment
charging the following four men with conspiring
in a scheme to fraudulently obtain at least
585 state tax refund checks totaling $435,577
between February 2005 and February 2008:
-
Johnson Coker, 50, a.k.a.
“Johnny Tunde” and “Adeyemisi
Toyusini,” of Old Bridge, was charged
with conspiracy, money laundering, receiving
stolen property, and use of personal identifying
information of another, all in the second
degree.
-
Taiwo D. Daisi, 39, of
Roselle, was charged with conspiracy, money
laundering, and receiving stolen property,
all in the second degree.
- Ugochukwu
H. Madubuike, 30, of Orange, was
charged with conspiracy, money laundering
and receiving stolen property, all in the
second degree.
-
Adebowale Sheba, 38, of
Franklin Township (Somerset County), was
charged with second-degree conspiracy.
Sheba
is also charged in the indictment with two
counts of second-degree theft by deception
for using the alias “Adebayo A. Michael”
and false employment and earnings information
to obtain mortgage loans to buy two homes
in Newark. He obtained loans totaling $278,950
for one home, and loans totaling $235,000
for the other. In addition, Coker was charged
with a single count of second-degree theft
by deception for using fraudulent employment
and earnings information to obtain a $417,000
mortgage loan to purchase his home in Old
Bridge.
“These
men stole nearly half a million dollars from
the State of New Jersey and its taxpayers
by filing hundreds of fraudulent tax returns,”
said Attorney General Milgram. “Fortunately,
due to the repetitive nature of the fraud,
auditors in the Division of Taxation detected
similarities in the refund checks and returns,
and worked with the Division of Criminal Justice
to uncover the scheme.”
Deputy
Attorney General Denise Grugan presented the
case to the state grand jury. The investigation
was led by Auditor Thomas R. Bair Jr. of the
Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigation
and Sgt. Robert Walker, Detective Richard
A. Loufik and Deputy Attorney General Grugan
of the Division of Criminal Justice Major
Crimes Bureau.
“This
is a far-reaching tax fraud case,” said
Director Gramiccioni. “The state auditors,
detectives and deputy attorney general did
an outstanding job in following the trail
of these fraudulent tax refund checks to expose
this conspiracy.”
The
state charged the four men by complaint warrant
on Nov. 18, when state and federal authorities
arrested Coker, Daisi and Sheba. Madubuike
had been arrested by federal authorities in
November 2008. The four men also have been
charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the District of New Jersey in connection
with thousands of fraudulent U.S. income tax
returns.
Last
week, the Division of Criminal Justice obtained
guilty pleas from two women involved in the
scheme to steal state tax return checks. The
women, Mischa R. Spray, 32, of North Arlington,
and her sister, Mia N. Allison, 38, of Hackensack,
each pleaded guilty on Dec. 17 to an accusation
charging third-degree receipt of stolen property
before Superior Court Judge Edward M. Neafsey
in Mercer County. The women admitted they
assisted Coker by depositing fraudulent tax
return checks into personal or business bank
accounts they controlled in return for a share
of the proceeds, typically 10 percent.
Under
their plea agreements, each of the women must
pay restitution for the amount of the fraudulent
tax return checks they retained, plus a penalty
and interest. Mischa Spray must pay $12,705,
and Mia Allison, $20,951. In return, the state
will recommend that they receive sentences
of probation.
All
of the men are from Nigeria, with the exception
of Madubuike, who was born in the U.S. Daisi
is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Coker and Sheba
are not U.S. citizens.
The
fraudulent refund checks were mailed to 27
different addresses controlled by the defendants.
They were cashed against, or deposited into,
bank accounts maintained by Coker, Daisi,
Madubuike and the two women who pleaded guilty.
Daisi operated a business called Chrysolyte
Universal and Tax Services Professional from
his apartment and used its bank account to
deposit checks. Allison used an account that
she opened for a fictitious company.
Tax
returns were filed using stolen identities,
including stolen Social Security numbers.
Madubuike was formerly employed as a case
worker for the New Jersey Division of Youth
and Family Services, and some returns were
filed using the identifies of his DYFS clients.
Other identities were fictitious. Some Social
Security numbers were invalid or did not match
the names under which the returns were filed.
Several Social Security numbers were from
deceased people.
The
investigation began when auditors from the
Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigation
detected numerous refund checks payable to
multiple taxpayers that were co-endorsed with
the same name. The tax returns associated
with the refund checks had similar taxpayer
information, including filing status as head
of household, one or two dependent children,
wages ranging from $7,000 to $16,500 with
no payroll tax withholdings, and business
losses reported on an accompanying Schedule
C. Wages were reported on identical W-2s,
apparently produced from the same software
package. In all instances, the taxpayers completed
the Earned Income Tax Credit Schedule with
income levels that qualified for the EITC.
Division
of Taxation OIC auditors expanded the scope
of their review, identifying and investigating
checks that were co-endorsed with different
names but fit the suspicious pattern. They
referred the case to the Division of Criminal
Justice. The joint investigation is ongoing.
Second-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of 10 years
in state prison and a $150,000 fine. The second-degree
money laundering charge carries an enhanced
fine of $500,000 and a potential anti-money
laundering penalty of $250,000. Third-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of five years
in prison and a $15,000 fine. The charges
in the indictment are merely accusations and
the defendants are presumed innocent until
proven guilty.
The
indictment was handed up to Superior Court
Judge Linda R. Feinberg in Mercer County,
who assigned the case to Mercer County, where
the defendants will be arraigned in court
at a later date.
A
copy of the indictment is available with this
release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
Madubuike
is being held in the Union County Jail in
lieu of bail. Coker, Daisi and Sheba are being
held in the Essex County Jail, Daisi in lieu
of $500,000 bail, and Coker and Sheba without
bail.
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