Working smart essentially means figuring out what your strengths are and building a network around you to build upon those in order to reach goals in the quickest and most efficient way possible. Smart, however, isn’t always a synonym for intelligent! As an example, Joseph Oluwafemi Kolawole Akoshile. Akoshile concocted a scheme involving fraudulent tax returns claiming false fuel tax credits. The fuel tax credit is intended to assist legitimate businesses in offsetting fuel taxes they pay for off-road vehicles. Bigger credits resulting in larger refunds of course. That is thinking smart! But why stop at one business?
Maybe not so intelligent.
In order to maximize the return on his long running financial fraud scheme, Akoshile stole the identities of numerous people. For more than five years, Akoshile and others submitted federal corporate tax returns, claiming fraudulent refunds for a web of corporations set up using stolen identities. The fraudulent tax returns claimed false fuel tax credits, resulting in large refunds. Akoshile’s scheme resulted in the issuance of more than 100 fraudulent treasury checks worth over $3.5 million.
But what to do when the check is issued in the name of the stolen identity? Alter the checks. Neither smart nor intelligent! Akoshile would alter the checks to change the payee to a corporation created by Akoshile for the scheme. Akoshile then laundered these funds through other accounts, including multiple business accounts he controlled in one of his many aliases.
Akoshile was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,606,990. Great job by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Mansfield Man Sentenced to Prison for $3.5 Million Tax Fraud Scheme Involving False Fuel Tax Credits” published by Newsbreak on September 22, 2023
Joseph Oluwafemi Kolawole Akoshile has been senenced to four years and three months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for his involvement in a $3.5 million tax fraud scheme centered around false tax returns that fraudulently claimed fuel tax credits. The sentencing also includes an order for Akoshile to pay restitution in the amount of $3,606,990.10. Akoshile, 57, hailing from Mansfield, Texas was convicted on these charges on June 9, 2023, following his guilty plea.
U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan stated, “akoshile used multiple aliases to steal millions of dollars from American taxpayers by fraudulently using a tax credit designed to aid business owners. He laundered the money through multiple accounts he controlled in a failed effort to disguise his criminal scheme
