United States of America v. Leon Haynes

Newark, New Jersey, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.

Leon Haynes, age 52, of Teanck, New Jersey, was accused of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, mail fraud, and tax evasion.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, Congress authorized an employee retention tax credit and sick and family leave credit that small businesses could use to help keep their business afloat and employees on payroll.

From November 2020 to May 2023, Haynes orchestrated a massive, multimillion dollar scam to exploit those COVID-related tax credits for his own greed. As a tax preparer, Haynes prepared and submitted, and worked with others to prepare and submit, more than 1,900 false employment tax returns to the IRS claiming COVID-related tax credits on behalf of himself and his clients. Each of these tax forms contained a number of false statements. For example, the vast majority of the tax forms claimed a fictitious number of employees and/or fabricated wages.

Haynes and his co-conspirators fraudulently sought more than $170 million in tax refunds on behalf of his own businesses and his clients and successfully caused the government to pay out over $55 million in refunds.

Throughout the scheme Haynes also charged clients a percentage of the refund checks as his fee and requested cash payments. He failed to report the money he received from his clients, thereby evading his own taxes.

This is the largest COVID-19 tax relief fraud case to be tried to date in the country.

U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer credited special agents the IRS – Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan; special agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Amy Connelly, and postal inspectors from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Christopher Nielsen, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fatime Meka Cano, Matthew Stark, and Peter A. Laserna of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

The District of New Jersey COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force is one of five strike forces established throughout the United States by the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute COVID-19 fraud. The strike forces focus on large-scale, multi-state pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors. The strike forces are interagency law enforcement efforts, using prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams designed to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

The Department of Justice has established the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the National Fraud Enforcement Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. The National Fraud Enforcement Division will fulfill that mission by coordinating with agencies responsible for administering benefit programs; partnering with federal, tribal, state, territorial, and local law enforcement on fraud-fighting efforts; developing systems and processes that ensure efficient identification of fraud against taxpayer dollars; and equipping prosecutors and law enforcement with state-of-the-art tools and resources needed to bring criminal actors to justice. The attorneys in the National Fraud Enforcement Division will work every day to protect the financial integrity of our government and the tax system that supports it.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

entence: 144 months - 36 months on each of Counts 1-15, 144 months on Count 16, 60 months on each of Counts 17 and 18, all such terms to run concurrently. Supervised Release: 5 years - 1 year on each of Counts 1 to 15, 5 years on Count 16, and terms of 3 years on each of Counts 17 and 18, all such terms to run concurrently with conditions: ALCOHOL/DRUG TESTING AND TREATMENT, FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE, NEW DEBT RESTRICTIONS, COOPERATION WITH THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, OCCUPATIONAL RESTRICTIONS, SELF-EMPLOYMENT/BUSINESS DISCLOSURE. Fine waived. Special assessment of $1,800.00 on each of counts 1-18 due immediately. Restitution in the amount of $55,217,857.72 due immediately.