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Press Release
PORTLAND, Ore. – On November 2, 2020, retired attorney Bruce L. Lamon, age 66, of Hillsboro, Oregon, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and 3 years supervised release following his April plea of guilty to evading payment of his taxes for calendar years 2008 through 2013. Lamon was also ordered to pay $744,339 in back taxes to the IRS.
“Tax cheats steal from all of us” said United States Attorney Billy J. Williams. “This defendant chose greed over paying his taxes. Thanks to the excellent work of the IRS, this disgraced lawyer was caught and will now serve time.”
Lamon worked as a commercial litigator at a law firm in Honolulu, Hawaii, for 30 years. Lamon retired in 2012 and moved to Hillsboro. Between November 2012 and December 2015, Lamon committed numerous affirmative acts to evade his tax obligations. These included titling vehicles in his former spouse’s name and purchasing three rental properties using an LLC registered in Hawaii to conceal these assets from the IRS.
After he was indicted in October 2018, Lamon failed to appear for his arraignment. He bought a burner cell phone, rented a car, and hid from federal law enforcement officers for six weeks. IRS agents tracked Lamon’s movements and arrested him when he returned the rental car.
U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez found that Lamon had used his skills as an attorney to create a sophisticated method for hiding his assets from the IRS. Judge Hernandez also found Lamon obstructed justice by not appearing for his arraignment and for staying on the run for six weeks.
Lamon recently sold his three rental properties and paid the IRS $465,000 from the sale proceeds.
This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and prosecuted by Seth D. Uram, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.