The Ohio Supreme Court has suspended the law license of a Columbus lawyer for his role in creating a $500,000-plus tax fraud scheme for a slain physician who ran a South Side "pill mill."

The justices suspended Marcus D. Dunn, 51, of Bexley, on Wednesday following his felony conviction in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

In a plea agreement, Dunn pleaded guilty on Nov. 26 to corruptly obstructing the administration of tax laws by the Internal Revenue Service.

He could face up to three years in prison when sentenced by Judge Michael H. Watson on May 1.

Dunn was employed by Dr. Kevin B. Lake from 2007 through 2015, providing advice on tax issues in connection with the osteopathic doctor's businesses, especially Columbus Southern Medical Center at 2912 S. High St.

Lake was slain on June 23, 2017 when he was shot several times in his New Albany-area home as he was about to begin a five-year federal prison term after pleading guilty to multiple drug, tax and fraud charges. The former Ohio University trustee was found guilty of improperly prescribing painkillers.

Jonah B. Lake, 20, Kevin Lake's son, was indicted late last year on an aggravated murder charge in his father's death and is free on $5 million bond. The younger Lake said an intruder killed his father.

Dunn's plan was to keep Lake out of the limelight in regard to his businesses, court documents show. It took federal investigators six years to unravel Lake's many schemes connected with his pill-mill practice.

Audits revealed that Dunn and Lake worked together to inflate bills of sale for medical equipment to total $24 million, court records show. As a result, Lake fraudulently filed for tax deductions worth slightly more than $500,000, court documents show.

Dunn also lied when questioned by an IRS officer, who was auditing Lake's operations, according to the U.S. attorney's office. The IRS collected that money from the nearly $30 million that Lake turned over to the federal government as part of his plea agreement. Dunn had tried to hide the creation of the firm to which some of the money was transferred, federal officials said.

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlow