A New York man was sentenced to three years probation and had to pay a substantial $290,000 in reparations after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Xerxes Shevar, 57, of Brooklyn, was sentenced by United States District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter on July 10, 2025.
Shevar was part of a massive worldwide conspiracy that comprised co-defendants from the United States, Ghana, Nigeria, and Ireland. The intricate scam involved submitting fake federal tax returns using stolen identities.
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According to evidence given in court, the conspirators would get stolen identity information online and then communicate it with one another via email and other means. They then used these stolen identities to open thousands of bank accounts, which they used to deposit their illegally obtained tax returns.
The indictment against Shevar, who was caught in February 2024 while returning to the United States from Ghana, and his co-conspirators accused them of a massive attempt to defraud the IRS. For tax years 2010 to 2013, the gang sought around $38 million in bogus tax refunds, with the IRS paying out at least $10 million as a result of their efforts.
The breadth of the operation was massive: roughly 3,493 bank accounts were opened using stolen identities, affecting approximately 443 financial institutions. Additionally, approximately 4,563 credit cards were secured using these stolen identities, resulting in an estimated 11,468 victims.
