Tenia A. Thompson, 51, ran a tax preparation business in Philadelphia that prosecutors say was also a pipeline for pandemic relief fraud. A federal indictment announced October 6 charges her with 69 counts, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania says the scheme produced at least $12 million in fraudulent loan proceeds.
The charges are allegations. The office notes that every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
What the indictment alleges
Thompson owned and operated Thompson Business and Tax Solutions and TBTS Taxes, together called TBTS, a financial services and tax preparation business. From about April 2020 through June 2024, prosecutors allege, she prepared false tax returns for individuals and businesses and helped them obtain COVID-19 disaster-related loans and tax benefits they were not entitled to. The release places the loan programs under the CARES Act, the 2020 pandemic relief law, and says Thompson was arrested and charged by indictment. It describes the charges as accusations only.
The targets named in the indictment were the Small Business Administration, multiple SBA-approved lenders in the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and the Internal Revenue Service. The office says the scheme generated at least $12 million in fraudulent loan proceeds and at least $5 million in fraudulent tax benefits.
The money did not stop with the clients, according to the indictment. Prosecutors say Thompson charged “exorbitant fees” once the loans and benefits came through, taking in at least $2.2 million for herself. They also say she tried to win tens of millions of dollars in additional tax benefits, but the IRS rejected most of those claims. More than 100 clients are described in the case.
The unanswered question for anyone who used a paid preparer during 2020 through 2024 is whether the return filed in their name matches what they gave the preparer. The indictment does not identify clients, so the case itself offers no way to tell. The IRS does, through the records it holds on every filer.
The $12 million in alleged loan proceeds is the figure to watch as the case moves through federal court in Philadelphia, and each court filing can change what prosecutors say it totals.
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A taxpayer can compare the filed return with their own copy. If the numbers differ, or a loan or credit appears that the taxpayer never requested, that is the signal to act on.
The 69 counts and the possible sentence
The indictment lists 17 counts of wire fraud, 2 counts of bank fraud, 1 count of filing a false tax return and 49 counts of aiding the filing of a false tax return. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison on each wire fraud count, up to 30 years on each bank fraud count and up to 3 years on each tax count, plus up to 3 years of supervised release. The maximum fine is $18,750,000, with additional financial penalties possible.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Louis D. Lappen and S. Chandler Harris are prosecuting the case. The FBI, the Amtrak Office of Inspector General, IRS Criminal Investigation and the SBA Office of Inspector General, which provides independent oversight of the agency’s pandemic response programs, investigated.
The release does not say how many loan applications were involved or what the false returns contained. It also does not say whether individual clients were victims, unwitting participants or knowing participants, and no client is named.
Pulling IRS transcripts to compare against what was filed
The IRS lets taxpayers request transcripts of past returns, tax account information and wage and income statements. The fastest route is an individual online account, according to the IRS transcript page. A transcript can also be mailed on request, using the automated phone line at 800-908-9946, and mailed copies arrive in 5 to 10 calendar days at the address the IRS has on file. Transcripts partially mask personal identifying information, but financial data stays fully visible, so line items and credits can be checked directly.
Anything that does not match a taxpayer’s own records, such as income that was never earned, a business that was never run or credits that were never claimed, can be reported through the IRS. The agency’s preparer complaint page says to file Form 14157, Return Preparer Complaint. A client who wants a corrected account must be a Form 1040 series filer to request an account change, and the IRS uses Form 14157-A for that request. The IRS page also says it generally cannot act on complaints about conduct more than three years old and handles federal tax matters only. That limit matters for conduct dating to 2020 and 2021. Form 14157 asks whether a refund was deposited directly into the filer’s account or paid out through the preparer.
Anyone who took a pandemic loan through a preparer might also pull their own loan paperwork and compare the amount and business details to what they remember applying for. The loans in this case were made through SBA programs, and the SBA inspector general’s office is one of the four agencies that investigated.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
