NC tax preparers plead guilty in $25M pandemic-relief fraud scheme

A North Carolina tax return preparation business owner has joined seven former colleagues in pleading guilty to a scheme that sought almost $25 million in false COVID-19 relief tax refunds.

The Justice Department on Wednesday announced that the company's owner, Nejlai Mitchell, filed fake tax returns based on a paid sick and family leave credit — which Congress passed to help struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic — from April 2022 through May 2023.