Illinois Tax Preparer Convicted of Stealing Over $11 Million in COVID-19 Unemployment Fraud

CHICAGO — A federal jury convicted an Illinois tax preparer on May 12 of unemployment insurance fraud for submitting false claims to a COVID-19 assistance program and stealing more than $11 million from taxpayers, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

The defendant faces a statutory maximum of decades in prison and full restitution after the jury found her guilty at trial in the Northern District of Illinois. The scheme involved fabricating claims under the pandemic-era unemployment insurance programs that distributed hundreds of billions of dollars nationwide to support workers who lost income because of COVID-19 shutdowns.

The $11 million taken in this case represents funds that otherwise would have gone to eligible recipients or been returned to the Treasury.

Prior to the verdict the defendant operated as a tax preparer in Illinois, a role that gave her access to client information and the ability to file claims electronically. The conviction changes her status from accused to convicted felon; sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

Under federal rules, the judge must calculate any sentence using U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that factor in the amount of loss, number of victims and abuse of a position of trust.

The verdict starts a mandatory restitution process in which the Internal Revenue Service and state workforce agencies will document exact losses so the court can order repayment. It also requires the Justice Department to report the case outcome to Congress as part of its pandemic fraud enforcement tally.

Federal prosecutors in multiple districts now hold a precedent that tax preparers who route fraudulent claims through legitimate-looking filings can be convicted at trial rather than through pleas. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Labor Department Office of Inspector General supplied investigative support.

This marks the latest conviction in a series of federal cases targeting individuals who exploited COVID-19 unemployment systems. The original pandemic assistance programs launched in March 2020 under the CARES Act; Congress later extended and modified them through 2021.

The Justice Department has pursued hundreds of such prosecutions since 2021, recovering a fraction of the estimated tens of billions lost to fraud across all pandemic relief efforts.