Toronto (July 13, 2020) – Former Toronto-area tax preparer, John Oladapo Oladehinde, pleaded guilty to Fraud Over $5,000 in a tax fraud case after spending more than 10 years on the lam, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Between 2001 and 2005, he prepared and filed fraudulent income tax returns amounting to $13 million for the clients of his corporation Dehinde & Associates International Inc. using fake charitable donation claims. The Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto convicted and sentenced the Brampton man to two years less a day and ordered him to pay a fine of over $400,000.
A Toronto court sentenced fugitive tax preparer, John Oladapo Oladehinde, from Brampton in a tax fraud case involving $13 million fake charitable donation claims on tax returns. He voluntarily returned to Canada after spending 10 years on the run, announced the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in a press release.
A decade-old tax fraud case
Oladehinde operated the tax preparation business, Dehinde & Associates International Inc. in Toronto as a director and officer. A CRA investigation discovered that he prepared and filed 1,427 fraudulent tax returns on behalf of his clients between 2001 and 2005. The agency pointed out that he made fake charitable donation claims amounting to $13 million.
As a result of these phony donations, the CRA issued income tax refunds or did not assess taxes payable in the amount of $3.9 million, CRA said. At the same time, the Brampton tax preparer continued to charge his clients for these fictitious donations that were claimed on their tax returns.
On January 16, 2008, Oladehinde was criminally charged as a result of the investigation. However, he failed to attend court and left Canada, whereupon the authorities issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for him.
Guilty plea and sentence
More than a decade later, in October 2019, Oladehinde voluntarily returned to Canada, according to the CRA. Upon his arrival at the Toronto Pearson International Airport, the RCMP arrested the fraudulent tax preparer.
On June 26 of this year, Oladehinde pleaded guilty to one count of Fraud Over $5,000. Thereafter, the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto handed down a conditional sentence of two years less a day and ordered him to pay a fine of $412,306.
According to the CRA, for the five-year period between April 2015 and March 2020, the courts convicted 21 tax preparers and tax promoters for tax evasion, both personally and for actions on behalf of clients. In total, the courts sentenced the tax defrauder to a total of $1.39 million in fines and 34 years of jail time.
