Freed by Biden, Nigerian in multimillion dollar fraud faces U.S. citizenship loss

The U.S. Department of Justice has moved to revoke the American citizenship of a Nigerian man convicted in a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scheme, escalating a high-profile case that already drew attention after his prison sentence was commuted by former President Joe Biden.

In a filing at a federal court in Maryland, the department said Emmanuel Oluwatosin Kazeem, a Nigerian-born U.S. citizen, should be stripped of his nationality on grounds that it was obtained through fraud and concealment of criminal activity.

“The Trump Administration will not permit wrongdoers to retain the U.S. citizenship that they were never entitled to in the first place,” said Brett A. Shumate, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. “U.S. Citizenship is a privilege, and we will continue to ask courts to revoke a status that was obtained through fraud and deceit.”

The case marks a rare but increasingly used legal tool — civil denaturalization — which allows authorities to revoke citizenship deemed to have been acquired unlawfully.

A sprawling fraud scheme

Kazeem was convicted in 2017 on 19 counts including mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors said he orchestrated a vast conspiracy that stole personal data and used it to file fraudulent tax returns across the United States.

Court filings show the scheme involved more than 259,000 victims, whose identities were used to submit over 10,000 fraudulent tax returns between 2012 and 2015. The operation sought more than $91 million in refunds, successfully obtaining at least $11.6 million, according to investigators.

Authorities said Kazeem purchased tens of thousands of stolen identities from a Vietnamese hacker and distributed them to co-conspirators, who used the data to bypass IRS security systems and divert refunds to prepaid debit cards.

The network also conducted more than 2,000 wire transfers, sending at least $2.1 million abroad, including significant sums to Nigeria.

Assets and lifestyle

Prosecutors said the proceeds funded a lavish lifestyle, including a nearly $200,000 down payment on a home and the purchase of another property worth $175,000 in Maryland. Kazeem also attempted to finance a $6 million hotel project in Lagos.

Authorities said he moved to shield assets shortly before his arrest in 2015, transferring property to a relative for nominal sums.

The Justice Department now argues that Kazeem’s criminal conduct — both before and after his naturalization — disqualified him from ever becoming a U.S. citizen.

The complaint also alleges he entered into a sham marriage to secure permanent residency and later married another woman, raising further questions about the legitimacy of his immigration status.

If the court rules in favour of the government, Kazeem could lose his citizenship entirely, potentially exposing him to deportation after serving his remaining legal obligations.

Kazeem’s sentence was commuted in December 2024 by Biden, as part of a broader clemency action affecting nearly 1,500 individuals released during the COVID-19 pandemic.