Los Angeles, California – Federal authorities have charged four Southern California residents in what is described as the largest COVID-related tax fraud scheme ever uncovered in the United States. The indictment, unsealed this month, alleges that the group conspired to steal nearly $93 million in pandemic relief funds by exploiting emergency tax credits meant to sustain struggling workers and businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.
Prosecutors say Kristerpher Turner, 52, of Harbor City, together with Toriano Knox, 55, of Los Angeles, Kenya Jones, 46, of Compton, and Joyce Johnson, 55, of Victorville, coordinated an elaborate web of fraudulent tax filings that spanned from June 2020 through December 2024. Their alleged scheme targeted sick and family wage credits created under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a congressional effort to help small businesses keep employees on payroll while they were out sick or caring for family during the pandemic.
According to the indictment, Turner masterminded the operation, recruiting a network of associates and so-called “fraud clients,” including romantic partners, who would supply personal information to fabricate non-existent businesses. The group then filed for tax refunds on those businesses’ behalf, claiming credits for wages that had never been paid. Others involved handed over information about legitimate businesses that were not eligible for the credits, which Turner’s network then used to file false claims anyway…