South Portland Man Sentenced for Preparing False Tax Returns

PORTLAND, Maine: A South Portland man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns for others and filing false tax returns for himself.

Chief U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker sentenced Lawrence Okeyo, 48, to two years in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release. Okeyo was convicted on October 29, 2025, following a three-day jury trial.

According to court records and testimony at trial, Okeyo was a professional tax return preparer in Portland. He prepared tax returns for others in exchange for a fee. Okeyo often collected his preparation fees, which sometimes exceeded $1,000, from the tax refunds issued to his clients. Okeyo falsified his clients' tax returns by claiming bogus, unreimbursed employee expenses that can be deducted only by a limited set of professionals: Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses. Neither Okeyo nor his clients met these qualifications. By falsifying tax returns, Okeyo generated or inflated unwarranted tax refunds for his clients and himself. Okeyo also prepared a false tax return for an undercover IRS agent posing as a client. During his interactions with the undercover agent, Okeyo told the agent, "I know that you should pay [taxes]. What I'm wanting to do is save you from paying." Okeyo then fabricated supposed business expenses on the tax return he prepared for the undercover agent. Okeyo advised the undercover agent that, if he was audited, he would not be able to prove that he was entitled to claim the expenses.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this case.

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