Mays failed to appear at a final pretrial conference on Jan. 8, 2015 and also the beginning of trial on January 12. He was recaptured in Fort Worth, Texas, in August 2017. He faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy which must be served consecutive with a maximum of 10 years for obstruction, stemming from his flight.

An investigation in May's tax preparation practices began in August 2012 after state and federal authorities received numerous complaints from citizens Port Arthur, Anahuac, Nacogdoches and Lufkin, Texas, that income tax returns that were being fraudulently prepared on their behalf. May was operating the name "Syam Tax Services, L.L.C." and "Baby Momma Tax." While his principal office was in Dallas, he had satellite offices in Fort Worth, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The 2014 indictment charged Mays targeted individuals who were generally exempt from having to file income returns because they were less likely to discover fraudulent returns had been filed in their names. Mays also employed individuals—"recruiters"—who were given $50 to $100 for every client brought to Syam Tax.

To avoid detection Mays altered taxpayers' addresses and phone numbers on the returns to the Internal Revenue Service would not reach taxpayers and used electronic deposits to ensure paper checks would not be mailed. Mays filed 4,226 tax turns for tax year 2011 which claimed about $6 million in refunds. A state injunction re3ceoved about $1,282,000 from Syam Tax Service bank accounts.

A Port Arthur-area recruiter, Diana Broussard McCoy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy January 2015, and was sentenced to five years probation, while another recruiter, Myra Jones, pleaded guilty in March 2014, to impersonating an IRS employee, and was also sentenced to probation.