US court sentences Nigerian man to eight years in prison for computer intrusion and theft

A Nigerian national living in Mexico, Mathew . A. Akande, who was extradited to the United States, has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for his role in a scheme to break into Massachusetts tax preparation firms’ computer networks and to file fraudulent tax returns.

The United States Department of Justice disclosed this in a press statement issued on Wednesday, February 18, 2026.

Akande, 37, was sentenced on Tuesday, February 17, by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to eight years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Akande was also ordered to pay $1,393,230 in restitution.

Akande was arrested in October 2024 at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom at the request of the United States and extradited to the United States on March 5, 2025.

Akande was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2022 with one count of conspiracy to obtain unauthorized access to protected computers in furtherance of fraud and to commit theft of government money and money laundering; one count of wire fraud; four counts of unauthorized access to protected computers in furtherance of fraud; 13 counts of theft of government money; and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft.