Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Crimes

A Texas man pleaded guilty today before Magistrate Judge Richard W. Bennett for the Southern District of Texas to not reporting and paying over employment taxes that his company withheld from its employees’ paychecks. The plea must be accepted by a U.S. district court judge.

The following is according to court documents and statements made in court: Joseth “Joe” Limon, of Harris County, owned and operated Platinum Employment Group Inc., a company that supplied laborers to businesses in the Houston area. From 2013 through 2018, Platinum did not file employment-tax returns, and, according to its payroll records, did not pay more than $8.8 million in employment taxes. The timely payment of these taxes is critical to the functioning of the U.S. government, because, for example, they are the primary source of funding for Social Security and Medicare. The federal income taxes that are withheld from employees’ wages also account for a significant portion of all federal income taxes collected each year.

After closing Platinum, he set up another labor-staffing company, Rockwell Staffing LLC, in the name of his then 18-year-old daughter. When he later found out that the IRS was attempting to collect Rockwell’s unpaid employment taxes, he caused his daughter to submit an affidavit to the IRS that falsely claimed that Rockwell had been a victim of identity theft and had no employment tax liability.

Limon is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 6. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison as well as a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei for the Southern District of Texas made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Curtis Weidler of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shirin Hakimzadeh for the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.