US-based Nigerian Musician Sentenced to 3 Years In Jail For $753,000 Tax Fraud

Nigerian born Olufunsho Adeshina, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison by a US court and must pay $753,063 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for his participation in a stolen identity tax fraud scheme.

Adeshina, a 30-year-old musician, received $753,063 from more than 50 refunds after filing false tax returns in the name of several individuals, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

The refunds were sent to various financial accounts, prosecutors said. Some of those accounts were in Adeshina’s name, some in the names of businesses that he controlled and others in the names of the victims whose information he used to create additional accounts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Adeshina was sentenced for one felony count of theft of government funds and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel. He has been in federal custody since April, after being arrested at Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport returning to the United States from Nigeria, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.