Judge Orders Prison Term for Defendant in Tax Refund Case

A federal judge sentenced a Sherman Oaks man to the maximum of nearly five years in federal prison Tuesday in one of the largest false income tax refund cases ever uncovered, authorities said.

Barry Nnanna, 38, was convicted in June of five counts of filing false claims, bank fraud and two counts of cashing stolen U.S. Treasury checks for seeking $5 million in refund checks through false tax returns.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Manuel A. Abascal said Nnanna and several accomplices filed the false returns on behalf of children and homeless people. Some returns also were filed under fictitious names, he said.

Prosecutors said Nnanna filed returns without the consent of the taxpayers whose identities were used.

More than $500,000 in refund checks were issued even though the IRS identified the returns as fraudulent. In sentencing Nnanna, U.S. District Court Judge George H. King found the defendant cashed more than $200,000 in fraudulently obtained checks.

He also cashed more than $100,000 in stolen and forged Treasury checks and numerous returns that sought more than $100,000 in refunds.

In addition to prison time, King ordered the defendant to to pay $335,764 in restitution.

Last week, King sentenced co-defendants Samuel Aragbaye, 47, of Riverside to six years, six months in prison; his wife, Olabisi Aragbaye, 40, to two years, and Gabriel Popoola, 47, of Hawthorne, to 18 months.

Prosecutors said cases against two other defendants are pending. They include Dele Babalola Akanmu, 44, of Los Angeles, who already pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

In the other case, Granada Hills resident Julius Alli, 40, is scheduled to be tried Jan. 4 after he was accused of obtaining names and Social Security numbers of children and adults through his wife, who worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.