A Nigerian identified as Kunle Sodipo Williams, who resides in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States might be facing 20 years jail term after he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, voter fraud and illegally re-entering the country after having been removed.
According to the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Carrie Costantin for the Eastern District of Missouri, said Sodipo entered the guilty plea in a Federal court in Alabama.
According to documents filed with the court, Kevin Kunlay(Kunle) Williams aka Kunlay Sodipo, 56, and others stole public school employees’ IDs from a payroll company and used them to electronically file more than 2,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns seeking more than $12 million in refunds.
He also stole several return preparer’s Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs) and used them to secure tax-related bank products and services that facilitated the issuance of tax refunds, to include blank check stock and debit cards
Williams used the blank stock to print checks funded by the fraudulent refunds and directed some of the refunds onto debit cards. Williams previously entered the United States from Nigeria under the name Kunlay Sodipo, but was deported in 1995.
In 1999, Williams illegally returned to the United States from Nigeria using the last name Williams. In 2012, Williams registered to vote in federal, state and local elections by falsely claiming that he was a U.S. citizen and voted in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.
Williams remains in federal custody and his sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 13. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for mail fraud, 10 years in prison for illegal reentry, 5 years in prison for each voter fraud count and a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison for aggravated identity theft. (Vanguard)