WOODLAND HILLS—Two brothers from Woodland Hills are going to trial in April 2019 on federal charges alleging a stolen tax refund check scheme.

Victor A. Ohiri and Stephen O. Danielson-Ohiri were arrested Tuesday, February 26, after being named in a 13-count indictment returned by a Los Angeles federal grand jury on January 29. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, both brothers are charged with conspiracy, theft of government property, and international money laundering. If convicted, the defendants may be looking at decades in federal prison.

Both Ohiri and Danielson-Ohiri pleaded not guilty when arraigned on Wednesday, February 27 in downtown Los Angeles and ordered to stand trial on April 23.

The indictment alleges that the brothers conspired to use bank accounts to launder approximately $294,000 in federal income tax refunds and deposited into the brothers accounts held in the United Kingdom between March 2014 and March 2015.

Two other unidentified co-conspirators were alleged in filing fraudulent federal income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service in the names of taxpayers who were identity theft victims. They are accused of using fake documents and information from the brother’s accounts to file false returns that sought refunds frequently between $8,000 and $10,000.

IRS investigators seized about $181,000 in 2014 from two of Stephen’s overseas bank accounts. According to U.S. Attorney’s Office, Victor was detained without bond pending trial while Stephen was ordered release on a $75,000 bond.