Torrance Man Sentenced for Tax Evasion for Hiding Fees in Multimillion Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

LOS ANGELES – A South Bay man was sentenced to 12 months plus one day in federal prison for tax evasion.

Jeffrey Lawrence, a.k.a. Jey Lawrence, 59, of Torrance, was sentenced on Feb. 28, 2022 by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner. In addition, Judge Klausner ordered Lawrence to pay restitution of $100,919.

Lawrence pled guilty to a single count of tax evasion stemming from his referrals in 2015 of prescriptions to TC Medical Pharmacy. In March 2015, Lawrence entered into an agreement with pharmacy owner Thu Van Le, whereby Le agreed to pay Lawrence for the referral of compounded medications prescriptions. Between March and June 2015, Lawrence then directed Le to pay more than $300,000 in referral fees to another person’s bank account in order to conceal Lawrence’s receipt of taxable income. 

Lawrence did not file a tax return for the year in which he earned the referral fees that were paid to his nominee’s account. After deductions, Lawrence’s taxable income from the concealed referral fees was more than $280,000, and his tax due was more than $100,000. 

Jeffrey Lawrence and Thu Van Le were among six defendants indicted by a federal grand jury on June 21, 2018.