Jury Finds Norcross Man Guilty of Laundering More than $400,000 in Proceeds from Fraudulent Tax Refunds

ATLANTA - After a one-week trial, a federal jury convicted Festus Anyiam of stealing government funds and laundering the proceeds of fraudulent tax refunds obtained through identity theft.

"This defendant attempted to conceal his brazen theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent tax refund payments by converting the stolen refunds into money orders and then transferring the cashed money orders into accounts he controlled," said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. "My office will always pursue wrongdoers who steal from the tax system and attempt to conceal their wrongdoing."

"This verdict is a victory for the U.S. tax system. It should send a message to would-be thieves that IRS-Criminal Investigation and its law enforcement partners will aggressively pursue those who seek to enrich themselves on the backs of U.S. taxpayers," said Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, St. Louis Field Office, Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. "No matter how many steps a thief takes to hide their ill-gotten gains, our special agents will track them down and bring them to justice."

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: In 2015, the IRS received fraudulent tax returns claiming refunds that used the personally identifiable information (PII) of taxpayers in Illinois and Missouri. The returns directed the IRS to send the refund payments to a third-party tax preparation software company, which deposited the tax refunds into prepaid debit cards that had been activated using taxpayers' stolen PII. After the debit cards were loaded with refund payments, the debit cards were used to purchase money orders from various retail stores in the Atlanta area.

During a three-week period in June and July 2015, Anyiam used ATMs throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area to deposit hundreds of those money orders into his personal bank account. To conceal the true source of the funds, Anyiam later sought to clear the tax refund proceeds from his bank account by buying a cashier's check for $406,000 and depositing it at another bank.

On June 5, 2026, a federal jury found Festus Anyiam, 41, of Norcross, Georgia, guilty of four counts of theft of government funds and one count of money laundering.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 10, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen. The Court may sentence the defendant to not more than 10 years of imprisonment on each of the theft counts and not more than 20 years of imprisonment on the money laundering count. In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

This case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Sekret T. Sneed and Daniel Grill are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney's Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6185. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.