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Tennessee Return Preparer Charged in $80M ERC Fraud Scheme
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Subscribe12 MAR 2026 / ACCOUNTING & TAXES
Renata Walton, a tax preparation business owner based in Moscow, Tennessee, along with her employee Nicole Jones, pleaded guilty to devising a fraud scheme to obtain $80 million in pandemic relief funds meant to assist struggling businesses. The fraud, which involved falsely reporting wages to qualify businesses for unmerited funds, resulted in over $52 million in losses to the federal government and emphasizes the heightened scrutiny over Employee Retention Credit fraud related to pandemic relief programs.
Every accountant who worked through the pandemic remembers the rush. Clients were calling nonstop, relief programs were rolling out overnight, and guidance from Washington seemed to change every few weeks. ERC claims, PPP loans, sick leave credits, disast...
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