Real estate agent gets prison time for $15 million pandemic tax fraud

A Las Vegas woman was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in a scheme to defraud the federal government through fraudulent COVID-19 employment tax credit claims, prosecutors said. The government had recommended a 40-month sentence.

Adonia Stiles, a real estate agent, tax preparer and clothing store owner, conspired with others to file false tax returns seeking refunds tied to the employee retention credit and the sick and family leave credit, according to court documents and statements made in court. Congress created both programs to aid struggling businesses during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

According to prosecutors, Stiles caused a co-conspirator, Candies Goode-McCoy, to file 11 fraudulent employment tax returns on behalf of Stiles’s clothing store, seeking more than $800,000 in refundable credits. Stiles also referred 18 other people to Goode-McCoy, who filed more than 150 additional false employment tax returns for those individuals, prosecutors said. In total, Goode-McCoy claimed $15 million in fraudulent credits on behalf of these taxpayers, resulting in more than $7 million in refunds paid out by the government, according to the Justice Department. Stiles received at least $135,000 for making the referrals and did not report that income on her individual tax returns, prosecutors said.

Goode-McCoy was sentenced in April 2026 to 54 months in prison for her role in the scheme, the Justice Department said.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey, in addition to the prison term, ordered Stiles to serve two years of supervised release and pay $7,079,121.48 in restitution to the United States, according to the department.

“The Fraud Division will not tolerate anyone who steals from public benefits programs designed to support Americans in need,” said Colin M. McDonald, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “If you attempt to defraud these programs, we will come after you with the full force of federal law.”

Sigal Chattah, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Nevada, said the sentence reflects the district’s commitment to holding fraudsters accountable. “When people commit fraud, they will face the legal consequences of those criminal acts,” she said.

IRS Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigated the case. Trial Attorney John C. Gerardi of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Tax Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Anthony Lopez of the District of Nevada prosecuted it.

The Justice Department announced the creation of its Fraud Division on April 7, describing it as focused on investigating and prosecuting fraud against the American people. The division’s work supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a governmentwide effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse within federal benefit programs, according to the department.