The United States Department of Justice has filed a civil complaint seeking to revoke the citizenship of Emmanuel Oluwatosin Kazeem, a Nigerian-born man convicted in a large-scale identity theft and tax fraud scheme involving more than $91 million in fraudulent refund claims.

The complaint, filed in a federal court in Baltimore, Maryland, alleges that Kazeem unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship by concealing criminal activities and providing false information during his naturalization process.

Kazeem was convicted in 2017 on multiple charges, including mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit fraud. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment but had his sentence commuted in 2024 by former U.S. President Joe Biden after serving six years.

In a statement released by the Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the U.S. government would continue efforts to revoke citizenship obtained through fraudulent means.

According to court filings, investigators linked Kazeem to a conspiracy that used stolen personal information to file thousands of fake tax returns between 2012 and 2015.

Authorities said the scheme affected more than 259,000 victims and involved the purchase of over 91,000 stolen identities from a Vietnamese hacker. Prosecutors alleged that Kazeem coordinated co-conspirators, including his younger brother, to obtain electronic filing PINs and bypass Internal Revenue Service authentication systems.

The investigation reportedly uncovered more than 10,000 fraudulent federal tax returns seeking over $91 million in refunds, of which approximately $11.6 million was successfully obtained.

Officials further alleged that over $2.1 million was transferred to Nigeria through more than 2,000 wire transactions, with at least $690,000 directly linked to Kazeem.

Court documents also claimed that proceeds from the fraud were used to acquire properties in Maryland and to finance plans for a four-star hotel project in Lagos valued at about $6 million.

The Justice Department additionally accused Kazeem of entering into a sham marriage to secure permanent residency before later marrying another woman, actions prosecutors say further disqualified him from obtaining U.S. citizenship.

The case was investigated by multiple U.S. agencies, including the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.