While Americans had to social distance and practice shelter-in-place during the coronavirus outbreak, many took the opportunity to pick up new hobbies and diversions to fill in the time until businesses reopened and order restored in the world. Take Candies Goode-McCoy. She picked up a side hustle preparing and filing false tax returns for her business and others, manipulating the very credits Congress authorized to help businesses during the pandemic. In doing so, she stole $33 million from the U.S. taxpayer.
Beginning in June 2022, Candies Goode-McCoy of Las Vegas filed tax returns, seeking fraudulent refunds based on the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and Paid Sick and Family Leave Credit. For six months, McCoy filed approximately 1,227 false tax returns claiming these refundable credits. Talk about making the most of a shut down. McCoy filed an average tax return filing rate of nearly 80 returns per month.
In total, these claims sought refunds of over $98 million. McCoy personally received over $1.3 million in fraudulent refunds and was paid about $800,000 from those on whose behalf she filed fraudulent returns. McCoy knew that these returns were fraudulent, as did the other businesses. Neither she nor the others for whom she filed were eligible to receive the refundable credits in the amounts claimed. McCoy used the proceeds for her personal benefit, including the purchase of luxury cars, gambling at casinos, vacations and other luxury goods.
On February 14, 2025, McCoy pled guilty to COVID-19 CARES Act fraud.
Excellent job by the Internal Revenue Service in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Woman Pleads Guilty in Covid Tax Credit Scheme That Netted $33 Million” published by The New York Times on February 14, 2025.
A Nevada business owner prepared and filed false tax returns to fraudulently obtain Covid relief money for her businesses and others, prosecutors said. A Las Vegas woman has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the government, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Some people binge-watched shows during the Covid pandemic. Others picked up pickleball. But according to federal prosecutors, one Las Vegas woman prepared and filed false tax returns for her business and others at a busy average rate of nearly 80 per month.
