A South Portland man was sentenced on May 7 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 followed by one year of supervised release. Okeyo was convicted on October 29, 2025, after a three-day jury trial.
According to court records and testimony at trial, Okeyo worked as a professional tax return preparer in Portland, preparing returns for clients in exchange for a fee that sometimes exceeded $1,000 and was collected from their refunds. He falsified his clients’ tax returns by claiming unreimbursed employee expenses that are only deductible by certain 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 qualified under these categories.
The investigation revealed that Okeyo generated or inflated unwarranted refunds through these false claims both for his clients and himself. He also prepared a fraudulent return for an undercover IRS agent posing as a client. During this interaction with the undercover agent, Okeyo said: “I know that you should pay [taxes]. What I’m wanting to do is save you from paying.” He then fabricated business expenses on the agent’s return and advised him that he would not be able to prove entitlement if audited.
IRS Criminal Investigation led the inquiry into this case.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine prosecutes federal crimes including cases like this one involving fraud; it also handles civil matters involving the government and collects federal debts across Maine while collaborating with law enforcement agencies at various levels according to the official website.
