Man Who Impersonated IRS Agent Pleads Guilty : Crime: His card said ‘Eternal Revenue Service’ but the subject of an audit paid him $400,000.

A Costa Mesa man pleaded guilty this week to impersonating an Internal Revenue Service agent before a client who paid him $400,000 in fees, and to impersonating a certified public accountant before the IRS.

Edward Chung Lau, 39, who ran Costa Mesa-based Dynamic Consulting Services, faces up to 21 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1.25 million, Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark Larsen said. He is to be sentenced June 6 in federal court in Santa Ana.

According to federal documents filed this week, Lau was contacted by an Orange County taxpayer who was the subject of an audit in 1989 and 1990. Lau allegedly told the taxpayer he worked with the IRS and could help resolve the audit.

During a tape-recorded interview between Lau and the taxpayer in July, 1991, Lau said he had an IRS badge and “we only use it when we know that somebody needs help. . . ,” according to the details of the guilty plea filed in federal court.

Several weeks after that conversation, the taxpayer met with Lau and asked to see the badge. When Lau showed a card, IRS inspectors arrested him, authorities said. The card bore Lau’s name and said he was part of the “Eternal Revenue Service.”

The taxpayer had paid Lau more than $400,000 in fees, Larsen said.

In two other cases, Lau allegedly represented taxpayers and lied to the IRS when he said he was a certified public accountant. One taxpayer paid Lau $7,500 in fees. Another paid $2,000.

Lau graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in accounting, an IRS official said.