A United States federal court has sentenced Matthew Akande to eight years in prison for leading a tax fraud scheme that defrauded the U.S. government of more than $1.3 million. The sentence was delivered by Indira Talwani in Boston. In addition to the prison term, Akande was ordered to repay $1,393,230 and will serve three years of supervised release after his sentence.

Authorities said the 37-year-old Nigerian, who was living in Mexico at the time, was arrested in October 2024 at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. He was later extradited to the United States in March 2025 to face several criminal charges related to cyber fraud.

Investigators revealed that between 2016 and 2021, Akande and his associates targeted tax preparation firms in Massachusetts through phishing emails. The emails tricked victims into installing malware known as Warzone RAT, which allowed the group to steal clients’ personal and tax information.

Using the stolen data, the group filed more than 1,000 fake tax returns requesting over $8.1 million in refunds. Prosecutors said the criminals successfully obtained more than $1.3 million, which was sent to bank accounts in the United States before being withdrawn and transferred to accomplices abroad.