A New Jersey tax preparer, Leon Haynes of Teaneck, was sentenced on April 1 to 144 months in prison and five years of supervised release after being convicted for orchestrating a large-scale COVID-19-related tax fraud scheme. U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced that Haynes was also ordered to pay more than $55 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Haynes’s conviction follows a six-day jury trial in November 2025 before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark federal court. He was found guilty of multiple charges, including aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, mail fraud, and tax evasion. Authorities say this case is the largest COVID-19 tax relief fraud tried so far in the United States.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney Rob Frazer.
According to evidence presented at trial, between November 2020 and May 2023, Haynes prepared or helped prepare over 1,900 false employment tax returns claiming fraudulent COVID-related credits for himself and clients. The forms often included fake employee numbers or fabricated wages. In total, Haynes and his co-conspirators sought more than $170 million in refunds from these claims and successfully obtained over $55 million from the government.
Haynes charged clients a percentage of their refund checks as fees—often requesting cash payments—and failed to report this income on his own taxes.
The investigation involved special agents from IRS Criminal Investigation; Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General; and postal inspectors from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Philadelphia Division.
The District of New Jersey COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force is part of a national effort by the Department of Justice aimed at investigating large-scale pandemic relief fraud involving criminal organizations or transnational actors through interagency teams led by prosecutors and data analysts.
The Department has also established the National Fraud Enforcement Division with a mission focused on prosecuting those who misuse taxpayer dollars related to benefit programs like pandemic aid.
