An Internal Revenue Service 1040 Individual income tax form for 2021 arranged in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A New York woman is headed to prison for her role in a COVID-era tax scheme that sought to bilk the U.S. government out of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits that were meant to help businesses weather the pandemic.
Big picture view:
A federal judge sentenced Tiffany Williams, 43, to three years in prison after she was convicted on a single count of wire fraud for her role in the plot, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
The backstory:
The Justice Department explained that the New York woman and other individuals involved in the plan filed bogus tax returns between November 2021 and June 2023 that sought refunds from the U.S. government based on the employee retention tax credit as well as the paid sick and family leave credit.
By the numbers:
The federal government alleged they ended up filing more than 8,000 fraudulent tax returns that sought to collect over $600 million in tax credits for them and their clients. According to its estimate, the ruse ended up costing the U.S. approximately $45 million.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from the Department of Justice. This story was reported from Orlando.