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Leon Haynes

Defendant

ERC
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Person
Role
Defendant
Programs
ERC
Updated

The profile

A Teaneck, New Jersey tax preparer who filed more than 1,900 false employment tax returns claiming COVID-19 credits, sought more than $170 million and got more than $55 million paid out. A jury convicted him on all 18 counts in November 2025, and he was sentenced to 144 months in prison.

Identity and role

Leon Haynes, of Teaneck, New Jersey, was the defendant in United States v. Haynes, No. 2:24-cr-00232 (D.N.J.), the ERC case the Justice Department called "the largest COVID-19 tax relief fraud case to be tried to date in the country." He was 49 when he was arrested on a criminal complaint on July 31, 2023, and 52 at trial.

He ran a tax-preparation shop, Leons Tax Services. According to the indictments he also purported to own three other New Jersey businesses: GHP Payroll and Business Services, "a supposed payroll services business"; CNL Rentals, a car-rental business; and a restaurant called Lyla Mediterranean 2 Go.

The scheme and pandemic-relief role

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and the paid sick and family leave credits were claimed on Form 941, the quarterly employment tax return, and paid out as refunds when they exceeded the tax owed. According to the Justice Department, from November 2020 to May 2023 Haynes prepared and submitted, or worked with others to submit, more than 1,900 false Forms 941 for himself and his clients. Most claimed employees or wages that did not exist. He charged clients a percentage of their refund checks, asked for cash, and left the fees off his own tax returns, which is where the two tax-evasion counts came from.

The second amended indictment lists refund checks totaling approximately $1,428,592 mailed to Haynes for his own four businesses. It also quotes the questionnaire he returned when the Social Security Administration asked about wages that did not match: "the compensation that was reported to Social Security is attributed to the Employee Retention Credit and Family and Sick leave. Furthermore, the compensation that was reported is inaccurate." On February 27, 2023 he spoke voluntarily with investigators, and he kept filing afterward, according to the same indictment.

The figures grew as the case went on. The complaint said more than $124 million on more than 1,000 forms. The April 2024 indictment said more than $150 million on more than 1,600. At trial the government put the total sought at more than $170 million on more than 1,900 returns, with more than $55 million actually paid.

  • Charged: complaint of July 31, 2023 (eight counts of aiding and assisting false returns, one of mail fraud); indictment of April 3, 2024 (55 counts of aiding and assisting false returns, five of mail fraud, one of aggravated identity theft, two of tax evasion); superseding indictment of July 22, 2025 (26 counts).
  • Identity theft count: on September 23, 2025 Judge William J. Martini refused to dismiss the aggravated identity theft count under Dubin v. United States, holding that the use of the client's identity was "at the crux" of the conduct. The government's second amended indictment of October 30, 2025 charged 18 counts and left that count out.
  • Convicted: by a jury on November 13, 2025, after a six-day trial, of 15 counts of aiding and assisting false returns, one count of mail fraud and two counts of tax evasion.
  • Sentenced: April 8, 2026, to 144 months in prison and five years of supervised release; the judgment entered April 15, 2026 orders $55,217,857.72 in restitution to the IRS.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

The April 2026 judgment is the last public record of Haynes we found. The Justice Department's ranking is "largest … tried," not largest charged: a March 2024 New Jersey complaint against three other men alleged claims of about $2.9 billion.

Sources

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