NJ man facing prison time after tax fraud, stealing from elderly customer

A New Jersey man was sentenced to over four years in prison after pleading guilty to two schemes where he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. government as well as an elderly customer, according to officials.

During the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2021 to December 2022, James J. Mastrogiovanni, 45, worked with tax preparer Leon Haynes to file forms with the IRS claiming that he and his family members ran small businesses and needed assistance.

Even though Mastrogiovanni and his family members do not own any businesses and do not have any employees, he earned over $1,443,409 in tax credits with this scheme as well as $545,692 from the treasury.

Then, from June through December of 2023, Mastrogiovanni stole over $180,000 from an 85-year-old person after they used a check to pay for a car at the dealership where Mastrogiovanni worked.

Mastrogiovanni took the routing and checking account numbers from the person’s check to conduct purchases without the person’s knowledge or approval until the account ran out of money.

Mastrogiovanni was charged and pleaded guilty with conspiracy to defraud the United States, mail fraud, money laundering and other related charges.

He was sentenced to 49 months in prison as well as three years of supervised release and restitution of $726,862.

For Haynes, the tax preparer who helped Mastrogiovanni during the pandemic, he was found guilty by a jury of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, mail fraud and other related charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 12, 2026.