San Francisco Software Engineering Manager Convicted Of Tax Evasion

Press Release

Jury Found Defendant Guilty of Evading Personal Income Taxes By Deducting Over $1 Million in Fictitious Medical Expenses

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal jury in San Francisco returned a guilty verdict against Dwayne Lorenzo Richardson on three counts of tax evasion, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Mosley. The guilty verdict followed a three-day jury trial before the Honorable William Alsup, Senior U.S. District Judge. A three-count indictment was filed on June 27, 2023, charging Richardson with tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Richardson, 53, of San Francisco, evaded his personal income taxes for tax years 2017, 2018, and 2019 by claiming to owe only about $28,496 in total tax when he made over $1.2 million as a software engineering manager. Richardson did so by declaring over $1.1 million in medical expenses on his tax returns, overstating those expenses by more than $945,000.

Richardson received tax refunds totaling over $165,000 for the three charged tax years, according to evidence presented at trial. Richardson then lied to an IRS revenue agent in two audit interviews, stating that the $1.1 million of medical expenses were related to an appendectomy. But according to the court record, Richardson paid no more than a few hundred dollars for treatment related to the appendectomy, which took place in 2010, not 2017, 2018, or 2019. As Richardson explained to one of his representatives in the tax audit, Richardson deducted nonexistent medical expenses from his taxes for multiple years because he had not been "caught" the first time he did it.

Assistant United States Attorneys Jared S. Buszin and Ryan Rezaei and Special Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Chou are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Helen Yee. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by IRS-CI.

Richardson's sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 14, 2025. Richardson faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine on each of the three counts. However, any sentence will be imposed only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Updated September 26, 2024