$1.9 million fraud: US court permanently bars Nigerian man from preparing tax returns

A U.S. court has permanently barred convicted tax preparer Oladapo Olagbemi from preparing federal returns for others after his $1.9 million tax fraud.

The permanent ban on former tax preparer Oladapo Olagbemi shows how U.S. authorities pair criminal punishment with civil injunctions to shut fraudsters out of the industry, Peoples Gazette reports.

A federal court in Southern California barred Mr Olagbemi, who ran San Diego-based D.A.O. Accounting, Consulting, and Taxation, Inc., from preparing returns for others, owning a tax business or training preparers.

The order came on top of an 18-month prison sentence and $1.9 million in restitution after he pleaded guilty in June to four counts of aiding false returns.

Between 2019 and 2024, he falsified clients’ returns, including Schedules 1, A, C and E, to cut their tax bills and secure refunds.

The case highlights a risk often overlooked by taxpayers: clients who sign falsified returns can be held liable for unpaid taxes, even when a preparer did the cheating.

The Department of Justice urged taxpayers to choose preparers carefully, pointing them to the Internal Revenue Service’s free directory of preparers.