ATLANTA — An Atlanta man will spend 12 years in prison after a five-year period of scams, involving tax refund, business email compromise, and romance fraud scams.
Thomas Addaquay, 50, of Atlanta, was sentenced this week after his conviction of 30 felonies related to two nationwide fraud schemes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Addaquay’s fraud schemes impacted numerous victims across the country and resulted in millions in losses to the IRS and private citizens,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. “The combined efforts of our federal and local law enforcement partners secured Addaquay’s successful prosecution and made it possible to obtain justice for the numerous innocent taxpayers whose lives were disrupted by this defendant’s criminal conduct and greed.”
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As his trial went before a jury, Addaquay was found guilty on 29 counts of fraud, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering.
Officials say from at least 2011 to 2016, Addaquay received stolen names, social security numbers, and dates of birth of taxpayers to prepare and file fraudulent federal income tax returns.
He then filed fraudulent tax returns, resulting in him receiving thousands of tax refund checks. His scams led to a loss of $4 million to the IRS.
Addaquay did not stop there, however.
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Officials say he defrauded multiple victims through the use of false identities and hacked or spoofed email accounts where he encouraged victims to send him money from their bank accounts.
Victims across the country lost over $3 million because of his scams.
Addaquay was sentenced to a 12 year prison term, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay more than $7 million in restitution.
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