2 Sentenced for Tax, Credit Card Fraud

Two North Hollywood men convicted in U.S. District Court of tax and credit card fraud have been sentenced to federal prison.

Engie Ogbor-Herbert, 39, pleaded guilty to 15 counts of filing tax returns and possession of 15 or more unauthorized credit cards. He was sentenced Monday to 21 months in jail and ordered to pay $265,000 in restitution.

Adekunie Rufai, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to file false tax returns and possession of 15 or more unauthorized credit cards. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay more than $94,000 in restitution. The men, who are Nigerian nationals, also were ordered to surrender their passports.

They were arrested at their homes in February on suspicion of preparing and filing more than 180 false tax returns, seeking about $1 million in refunds, according to authorities.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Elaine Lu said that most of the money from restitution would go toward compensating the government for more than $200,000 illegally obtained through the tax fraud scheme.

Together the two men possessed more than 300 unauthorized credit cards and credit card numbers, Lu said. Ogbor-Herbert testified in court that he planned to give the unauthorized credit cards to his cousin, whom prosecutors did not identify.

A third man, Los Angeles resident Anthony Soleye, pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges and will be sentenced in December, prosecutors said.

The investigation was initiated by the Internal Revenue Service, with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.