Accused Teaneck resident faces more than 150 million dollars in fraudulent COVID-19 tax credits.

April 4 :
A federal grand jury indicted a tax preparer from Teaneck on Wednesday. The grand jury stated that the defendant had sought refunds totaling $150 million by taking advantage of the COVID-19 employment tax credit programmes.

United States Attorney Phillip R. Sellinger said on Wednesday that Leon Haynes was charged with filing over 1,600 fake tax returns. The returns were claimed by Haynes and his clients in relation to COVID-19 employment tax credits. He got more than $40 million from the IRS for assertions that weren't true.

It is disgusting that the defendant is accused of abusing a programme that was created to help individuals in need. "The integrity of our tax system and relief programmes is our top priority," stated Jenifer L. Piovesan, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS - Criminal Investigation, Newark Field Office, in reference to today's charge.

Reported in a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Haynes was charged with filing false tax returns to the IRS by utilising the "employee retention credit" and the "paid sick and family leave credit," two programmes created to assist small businesses during the pandemic.

From November 2020 to May 2023, he allegedly told his clients that they could get COVID-relief funds just because they were business owners. In order to falsely claim these COVID-related tax credits, he allegedly had his clients' firms fill out IRS documents that exaggerated the number of employees and wages paid.

When making these assertions, he allegedly did not always confer with his clients. Allegedly, he did the same thing for four of his own businesses. According to the allegations, Haynes took a cut of his clients' cash tax returns that they got from the IRS. It is alleged that the individual from Teaneck did not declare his portion of the fraudulently acquired tax refunds as income.

Five counts of mail fraud, one case of aggravated identity theft, two counts of tax evasion, and 55 counts of aiding and helping in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns are all against Haynes.