Pecohub A Nigerian couple, Luciana and Femi Akanbi, have been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison in the United Kingdom for orchestrating a large-scale tax fraud that siphoned over £433,000 from public funds using stolen personal data.
According to a report by KentLive, the sentencing was delivered at Woolwich Crown Court, where prosecutors detailed how the couple exploited sensitive employee information from Transport for London to defraud HM Revenue and Customs through false tax rebate claims.
The fraud, carried out between September 2021 and January 2022, resulted in losses exceeding £433,000 to public funds, although the total value of fraudulent claims submitted was close to £650,000.
Delivering judgment, Judge David Miller described the case as the most severe data breach in the history of Transport for London, noting the wide-ranging impact on staff and institutional systems.
- “TFL suffered its worst-ever data breach. It meant they had to change their systems,” he said.
- “It affected their morale, I am told, and staff performance. You acquired and used the personal details of 40 employees… There were 139 claims for tax rebates totalling just under £649,000.”
He added that the fraud caused “immense damage to third parties,” particularly employees whose financial records and credit ratings were affected.
The court heard that Luciana Akanbi, who worked in TfL’s human resources department, accessed the personal data of 107 employees, which was then used to file 139 fraudulent claims using multiple devices.
Judge Miller emphasised that the crime was only possible due to her position of trust within the organisation.
- “You… had been colleagues with some of these people who were extremely badly let down,” he said.
Evidence also revealed that the stolen funds were quickly dispersed through a complex money laundering network, with more than £50,000 reportedly funneled into gambling accounts.
