Las Vegas woman sentenced for a $98 million ERC scheme that charged real clients fees
Candies Goode-McCoy, formerly of Las Vegas, filed more than 1,200 tax returns between June 2022 and September 2023 for her own businesses and those of clients, falsely claiming the Employee Retention Credit and paid Sick and Family Leave Credit and seeking over $98 million in refunds. The IRS paid approximately $33 million; McCoy personally kept over $1.3 million and collected roughly $800,000 in fees from clients before her April 2026 sentencing to 54 months in federal prison.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $33.0 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Employee Retention Credit (ERC) mill scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-22
The facts, as recorded
- Between approximately June 2022 and September 2023, Candies Goode-McCoy filed more than 1,200 tax returns for her own businesses and those of others, falsely claiming the Employee Retention Credit and paid Sick and Family Leave Credit and seeking refunds totaling more than $98 million.
- The IRS paid out approximately $33 million as a result of the scheme.
- Goode-McCoy personally received over $1.3 million in fraudulent refunds for her own businesses, plus approximately $800,000 in fees she collected from clients for filing their fraudulent returns.
- She used the proceeds to pay for vacations, luxury cars and other luxury goods, and to gamble at casinos.
- Goode-McCoy pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims and was sentenced on 6 April 2026 to 54 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
- She was ordered to pay the IRS $26,022,188 in restitution.
- The Justice Department announced this case alongside two others the same day, in support of a federal task force to eliminate fraud; Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: "In one day, the Department prosecuted the theft of a half-billion in taxpayer dollars."
Why this case matters
Unlike the other cases on this page, which center on shell businesses the defendant fully controlled, this scheme also filed claims for actual paying clients: Goode-McCoy collected roughly $800,000 in fees for preparing fraudulent returns on their behalf. It is the clearest documented example of the contingency-fee mill pattern operating against real client businesses, not just fabricated ones.
A dual role: filer and beneficiary
Goode-McCoy did not simply charge clients to file fraudulent claims; she also filed for her own businesses, personally receiving over $1.3 million in refunds in addition to the roughly $800,000 she billed clients. The government’s account treats both streams of money as part of the same conspiracy to defraud the IRS.
Where the money went
Vacations, luxury cars and casino gambling, the same pattern of rapid, visible spending that appears in several of the other cases on this page, and one prosecutors commonly point to as evidence the money was never really about the businesses the claims were filed for.
The caveat
This is a concluded case. Goode-McCoy pleaded guilty and was sentenced by a federal judge; the facts above come from the Justice Department’s own published account of her plea and sentencing, not unproven allegations.
Sources
- Business Owner Sentenced to Over Four Years in Prison for $100M COVID-19 Tax Credit Scheme. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Accessed 2026-09-22. Supports: Goode-McCoy's identity, the return-filing period and count, the amounts claimed and paid, her personal proceeds and client fees, her guilty plea, sentence, restitution, and the Acting Attorney General quote.