UPDATE: Another Suspected Internet Scammer, Bamidele Muraina Bags 5Yrs In US Jail
As the case of a suspected internet scamster, Raymond Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, lingers, a United States district judge, William M Ray II, Thursday sentenced Bamidele Muraina, a 34-year-old Nigerian hacker to five years and ten months in prison.
Muraina was sentenced for hacking into multiple tax preparation and accounting firms located in several states, including a Brunswick, Georgia-based accounting firm, between January 29, 2018, and April 2020.
However, Muraina fraudulently claimed unemployment insurance benefits worth $2.6 million.
In a statement issued by the United States department of justice, northern district of Georgia, obtained by Vanguard, Muraina was convicted alongside a 33-year-old Gabriel Kalembo.
Read the statement below:
Nigerian hacker and a repeat offender sentenced to federal prison for unemployment fraud and tax fraud scheme
“These defendants stole funds from programs meant to assist American workers and families seeking to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “The collaborative efforts of our law enforcement partners were essential to disrupting a sophisticated network of criminals and bringing their leaders to justice.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on us all. The enterprise created by these serial criminals further victimized our citizenry by robbing them of financial resources that were intended to help them,” said Special Agent in Charge Steven Baisel, U.S. Secret Service Atlanta Field Office. “Thanks to our judicial system, justice has been served.”
“Bamidele Muraina engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the Employment Security Department of Washington State (“ESD-WA”) by filing dozens of fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) claims in the names of identity theft victims who were not entitled to such benefits. As part of the same conspiracy, Gabriel…
