A Robeson County woman confessed to running a large tax fraud scam that used pandemic-era relief programs to steal nearly $14 million from the federal government.
Nejlai Mitchell, 48, pled guilty in federal court to conspiring to file false returns claiming fraudulent refunds based on COVID-19 tax credits and helping in the preparation of false tax returns. Mitchell owned and ran a tax preparation firm with sites in Lumberton and Hope Mills, North Carolina.
According to court records, Mitchell and her colleagues faked tax returns for clients between April 2022 and May 2023. These filings contained substantially incorrect information designed to result in significant, fraudulent refunds related to COVID-19 tax credits. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) paid out $13,890,697.00 before the scheme was discovered…