An Illinois woman, Lakeibia Fannin, admitted guilt for her scheme to deceive the U.S. government by falsifying claims to score refunds from COVID-19 relief funds meant to benefit struggling businesses during the global pandemic. Court records reveal that Fannin and her co-conspirators filed erroneous tax returns throwing numbers at the employee retention credit (ERC) and paid sick and family leave credit from June 2022 through November 2023. Their ploy attempted to bait over $3.5 million from the treasury's coffers, successfully reeling in more than $1.4 million, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada.
The fraudulent activity revolved around a safety net Congress created for small business owners, a sort of financial cushion — the ERC — alongside a parallel program providing credits against employment taxes to businesses compensating employees sidetracked by COVID-19. Regrettably, neither Fannin nor her operations qualified for the claimed amounts. Instead, Fannin fancied her ill-gotten gains on leisure, lining her life with the trappings of luxury: vacations, a cruise, and the glitz of jewelry and designer clothes, along with a new car, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
While Fannin's day of reckoning is marked for March 19, 2026, where she potentially faces a decade behind bars, her acceptance of responsibility in this financial fiasco comes paired with agreeing to return the plunder — all $1.4 million to the IRS. A federal district court judge will be saddled with the task of handing down her sentence, armed with the guidelines provided by the U.S. Sentencing Commission and an array of statutory considerations outlined by federal law, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The investigation into the scandal was a tag-team effort by the IRS Criminal Investigations and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Leading the legal charge are Trial Attorney John C. Gerardi of the Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Anthony Lopez of the District of Nevada, working in tandem to prosecute the case. First Assistant United States Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jarom Gregory of the IRS Criminal Investigation's Phoenix Field Office disclosed the plea in the aforementioned statement, as per the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
