San Francisco software engineer convicted of tax evasion by lying about medical expenses

A software engineering manager who evaded income taxes by deducting more than $1 million in medical bills for an appendectomy was convicted this week by a federal jury in San Francisco.
Dwayne Lorenzo Richardson, 53, was found guilty on three counts of tax evasion in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Richardson evaded income taxes for 2017, 2018, and 2019 by claiming to owe only about $28,500, although he made more than $1.2 million as a software engineering manager, according to prosecutors.
On his tax returns, Richardson declared over $1.1 million in medical expenses — overstating those expenses by more than $945,000. He received tax refunds totaling over $165,000 for the three charged tax years, according to prosecutors.
A San Francisco resident, Richardson lied to an IRS agent in two audit interviews, saying that the $1.1 million in medical bills were related to an appendectomy. Court records, however, showed that he paid a few hundred dollars for treatment related to the operation, which took place in 2010.
Richardson told a representative in the tax audit that he had deducted nonexistent medical expenses from his taxes for years “because he had not been ‘caught’ the first time he did it,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Richardson’s sentencing is set for Jan. 14, 2025. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine on each of the three counts.