A group of seven who allegedly sought to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in the “largest COVID-19 tax credit scheme” by falsely claiming pandemic-era benefits were charged on Jan. 22, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
An indictment unsealed in New York charged the seven people with “operating a multi-state conspiracy in which they attempted to defraud the United States of more than $600 million by filing more than 8,000 false tax returns claiming COVID-19-related employment tax credits,” the agency said in a statement. The fraud targeted programs like employee retention credit (ERC) and paid sick and family leave credit (SFLC), which were passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ERC gave tax credits to businesses, incentivizing them to keep employees on their payroll, while SFLC was a reimbursement made to businesses for paying employees “on sick or family leave and could not work because of COVID-19.”
The charges were made against Keith Williams, Jamari Lewis, Morais Dicks, Janine Davis, Tiffany Williams, James Hames Jr., and Ewendra Mathurin; all of whom are either current or former residents of New York.
Between November 2021 and June 2023, the defendants “repeatedly exploited” ERC and SFLC programs, the DOJ said. “The scheme was allegedly headquartered at Credit Reset, a purported credit repair business Keith Williams owned and operated.” […]
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