United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana Joins DOJ Fraud Division, IRS, and IRS-CI in National Tax Enforcement Surge Exposing $490M in Tax Fraud

New Orleans, Louisiana - Today, United States Attorney David I. Courcelle for the Eastern District of Louisiana, announced the sentencing of a local fraudster as part of a nationwide enforcement action led by the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, Internal Revenue Service, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation that targeted tax fraud and related offenses. The Eastern District of Louisiana was a key participant in this anti-fraud surge effort.

Between early September and today, the National Fraud Enforcement Division's Tax Section and U.S. Attorneys' Offices across the country participated in the Department's first-ever National Tax Enforcement Surge. The surge of nationwide resources resulted in prosecutorial actions against 76 defendants whose alleged and proven crimes intended an estimated loss of revenue to the federal government of more than $490,000,000.

"Today's coordinated surge effort highlights the commitment of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana, the Department of Justice's National Fraud Enforcement Division, the IRS and the IRS Criminal Investigation Service, to uncover and prosecute tax fraud," said U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle. Today's surge signals a day of reckoning for tax fraudsters nationwide."

In the Eastern District of Louisiana, U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle announced that Amanda Wilkerson, age 57, of Marrero, was sentenced on September 22, 2026 to 13 months of imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Brandon S. Long for failing to pay payroll taxes, failing to file individual income tax returns, and providing false statements on a Cares Act Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loan application.

According to court documents, Wilkerson owned and operated a home healthcare business, Divine Purpose Home Care LLC ("Divine"). From 2017 through 2024, Wilkerson failed to properly report Divine's payroll taxes due, and failed to pay to the IRS, the $1.1 million in payroll taxes Wilkerson had collected from her employees' wages. In 2023, Wilkerson earned over $1.6 million in income but failed to file her 2023 individual income tax return. For years, Wilkerson failed to file tax returns and failed to pay the taxes due for the years she failed to file returns. Also in 2021, Wilkerson made false and fraudulent statements to the Small Business Administration on her PPP loan application. In her application, Wilkerson stated that a non-operational business she established had annual gross income of $75,639 in 2019. Wilkerson submitted with her PPP application, a fraudulent IRS tax return that falsely reported the business earned income. Wilkerson's false PPP loan application resulted in Wilkerson receiving $19,907. Wilkerson was ordered to pay $2,367,686 in restitution to the IRS and $19,907 to the Small Business Administration. She was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment.

In May 2026, Wilkerson pled guilty to a three-count bill of information charging her with one count of failure to pay over payroll/trust fund taxes, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7202, one count of failure to file her individual income tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7203, and one count of providing false statements on a government Cares Act Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loan application in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001.

U.S. Attorney Courcelle praised the work of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations who investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiwana Wright, Financial Crimes Unit.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

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