Luzerne County woman indicted on tax fraud and conspiracy charges
Jul. 22—SCRANTON — A federal grand jury indicted a Luzerne County woman on charges she allegedly failed to report the wages of temporary workers leased to manufacturing businesses throughout Pennsylvania.
In a press release Thursday the U.S. Attorney's Office said Madeline Nieves, 48, of Plains Township allegedly defrauded the Internal Revenue Service of the wages owed for workers placed through Encore Staffing Solutions, LLC.
The indictment alleged Nieves, who was a co-owner of the business, did not report the wages and Encore owed approximately $67,000 in employment taxes to the IRS. Nieves also allegedly failed to report her income from Encore. She was charged with conspiracy and tax fraud that allegedly occurred between 2018 and 2020.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said two other people who were previously convicted in the investigation are awaiting sentencing.
Mark Holmes, 66, of Hughes Springs, Texas, pleaded guilty to failing to remit approximately $135,000 in employment taxes owed by Encore. Holmes, who also was the general manager of a food service company in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to accepting approximately $400,000 in kickbacks and bribes from Penns Independent Staffing and another temporary employment agency in exchange for hiring their workers. The employment agencies received approximately $7.8 million from Holmes' employer.
Nari Lam, 29, of Wilmington, Del., the owner of Penns Independent Staffing, failed to pay approximately $300,000 in employment taxes to the IRS from 2016 through 2020. Lam also pleaded guilty to failing to remit taxes to the IRS.
