Bergen County Taxman Who Filed False Claims For $170M In COVID Funds Learns Fate: Feds

TEANECK, NJ — A Teaneck tax accountant who tried to bilk the government out of $170 million in COVID-19 funds was sentenced to jail time on Wednesday, said federal prosecutors.

Leon Haynes, 52, was sentenced after what federal prosecutors called the biggest COVID fraud conviction after a jury trial to date.
Haynes will serve 12 years in jail and five years of supervised release, said the office of U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer.

After a six-day trial in November, Haynes was convicted of 15 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, prosecutors said. He was also convicted of one count of mail fraud and two counts of tax evasion.

Haynes prepared and submitted more than 1,900 false employment tax returns to the IRS, prosecutors said, claiming
COVID-related tax credits on behalf of himself and his clients.

Some forms claimed a false number of employees or fabricated wages, investigators said.

Haynes sought more than $170 million in refunds and received at least $55 million from the government, prosecutors said.

In addition, Haynes took a percentage of the refunds as a fee, and didn't report the correct amounts on his own taxes, prosecutors said.

The credits had been authorized by Congress during the 2020 pandemic, an effort to keep employees paid and keep small businesses afloat during the crisis, officials said.

Haynes committed the fraud between 2020 and 2023, prosecutors 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," Frazer said. "Our office will continue to pursue those who exploit emergency relief."

Prosecutors said in a release that Haynes exploited the credits "for his own greed."

Billions of dollars in COVID emergency funds were wasted or stolen, reported the Associated Press after their 2023 investigation.

Frazer credited the IRS, FBI, and other federal agencies for the Haynes investigation.

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 file a NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.