Ex-Lake Orion Insurance Salesman Convicted Of Tax Fraud, Lying In Bankruptcy Case

LAKE ORION, MI — A former Lake Orion insurance salesman for a gutter-protection business could spend years in prison after a jury found him guilty Tuesday of filing false tax returns and making false statements to both a bankruptcy court and federal officials, according to the Department of Justice.

Donald Stanley LaVigne was convicted in federal court on seven counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of making false statements in bankruptcy and one count of making a false statement to the Department of Justice.

LaVigne faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison on each of seven counts of filing false tax returns, five years in prison on each of two counts of making false statements in bankruptcy, and five years in prison for making a false statement to the Department of Justice. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and fines.

His sentencing date is scheduled for June 1.

Officials said LaVigne did not report insurance commissions and other income on his tax returns for the years 2013 through 2019. He also sent letters to the IRS falsely claiming the commissions were not income to him, officials said.

Moreover, when LaVigne filed for bankruptcy in 2018, he did not list the IRS as a creditor on the schedules attached to his bankruptcy petition, even though he owed taxes to the IRS for the years 2008 and 2009 and 2013 through 2015.

In addition, LaVigne also understated his income for the years 2016 and 2017 on a document he filed in the bankruptcy case, officials said.

When officials told LaVigne a federal grand jury was investigating him, LaVigne lied to federal officials in a letter that said his bankruptcy attorney had advised him that his 2017 income tax return was "correct and complete," officials said.

LaVigne's bankruptcy attorney testified in court that he never told LaVigne that his 2017 income tax return was accurate, officials said.