Attorneys for the federal government in Tennessee say that two tax preparers stole $65 million in COVID-19 aid funds from the government.
In a news statement this week, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Memphis said that Renata Walton, 44, and Nicole Jones, 36, were recently charged with more than 50 crimes, such as wire fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns, and obstructing justice.
The office said that Walton was charged with sending the Small Business Administration false applications for emergency loans and paycheck protection.
On Monday, both women said they were not guilty and were freed on a $100,000 bond. On court papers, no lawyers were named for them.
Jones and Walton are accused of “falsifying numbers provided to the IRS on personal and business tax returns from 2020 through 2024.” Walton owns and runs R&B Tax Express in Moscow, Tennessee.
Authorities say that Walton and Jones, who are both from Olive Branch, Mississippi, tried to get tax breaks for their clients under the Employee Retention Credit and the Sick and Family Leave Credit, but their customers did not qualify for them.
Prosecutors say that the clients got six-figure tax refunds and paid Walton and Jones back with big fees that they laundered through local banks.
It wasn’t said by the U.S. Attorney’s office how much the clients paid Walton and Jones.
The Employee Retention Credit is a tax credit that can be refunded to certain businesses and organizations that had workers who were hurt by the pandemic. Employers could get tax breaks for the time their workers took off to recover from an illness, injury, disability, or a condition linked to vaccinations through the Sick and Family Leave Credit.
They could get up to 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 10 years for each count of money laundering, 3 years for each count of filing fake tax returns, and 1 year for each count of not filing a tax return if they are found guilty. The only charge against Walton is obstructing justice, and she faces 20 years in prison for that.
