Nigerian citizen pleads guilty to identify theft, tax fraud

ST. LOUIS • A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to his part in stealing more than $700,000 in U.S. government funds by filing false tax returns with stolen identities.

Olusola Luke, 38, pleaded guilty in U.S. district court in St. Louis to taking part in a conspiracy to steal government funds and commit identity theft, prosecutors said.

Luke admitted he and others stole the identities of dozens of U.S. citizens and filed false tax returns using their names, prosecutors said. Luke and his partners obtained more than $734,000 in tax refunds through the false returns.

Luke, a citizen of Nigeria and resident of Guatemala, was arrested in April at Dulles International Airport in Virginia following an investigation by the IRS.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/nigerian-citizen-pleads-guilty-to-identify-theft-tax-fraud/article_5bae30a1-fef8-58de-8121-e55ab15c446c.html