A New Jersey tax preparer was sentenced on April 1 to 12 years in prison and five years of supervised release after being convicted for seeking more than $170 million in fraudulent COVID-19-related tax refunds. U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced that Leon Haynes, 52, of Teaneck, must also pay over $55 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Haynes’s case is notable as it represents the largest COVID-19 tax relief fraud tried so far in the United States. The sentence follows a six-day jury trial in November 2025 before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini, where Haynes was found guilty of multiple counts including aiding and assisting in preparing false tax returns, mail fraud, and tax evasion.
According to evidence presented at trial, Congress created employee retention and sick leave credits during the pandemic to help small businesses stay afloat. From November 2020 through May 2023, Haynes orchestrated a scheme involving more than 1,900 false employment tax returns submitted to the IRS by himself and others working with him. Many of these forms included fabricated numbers of employees or wages.
The fraudulent filings sought over $170 million in refunds for Haynes’s businesses and his clients; more than $55 million was actually paid out by the government as a result. Prosecutors said Haynes charged clients a percentage fee from refund checks—often requesting cash—and did not report this income on his own taxes.
U.S. Attorney Rob Frazer said: “Pandemic relief programs were created to support Americans during a national crisis, but Haynes—a tax preparer entrusted to help people comply with the law—treated those programs as a personal cash machine. Our office will continue to pursue those who exploit emergency relief programs and hold them accountable for stealing from the American people.”
Special agents from IRS Criminal Investigation led by Jenifer L. Piovesan; Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General under Amy Connelly; and postal inspectors from Philadelphia’s division assisted with investigating this case.
The Department of Justice has established several strike forces across the country—including one in New Jersey—to investigate large-scale pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations or transnational actors. The National Fraud Enforcement Division coordinates efforts among agencies administering benefit programs and works daily “to protect the financial integrity of our government and the tax system that supports it.”
