St. Paul businesswoman with ‘tough life’ gets 15 months in prison for cheating IRS out of $1M

Josh Verges, Pioneer Press
·3 min read

The owner of a former St. Paul staffing agency who cost the U.S. government $1.02 million in tax revenue by paying employees in cash was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison.

Shoua Isabelle Yang, 45, was indicted in April 2021 for filing false tax returns from 2015 through 2018 while operating AtWork Staffing on Rice Street. The grand jury alleged she failed to withhold and pay income and payroll taxes on behalf of the people she hired to work for her clients.

Yang pleaded guilty in November to two counts of filing false income tax returns under an agreement with prosecutors.

At sentencing Thursday, U.S. Assistant Attorney Matthew Ebert called Yang’s actions “serious by any measure.” He said tax crime is common and difficult to prosecute and that a prison sentence may help deter “any other would-be tax cheats.”

However, Ebert also asked for a downward departure from federal sentencing guidelines, which called for double the prison time. He said Yang quickly took responsibility for her crimes and has provided “information about a range of other matters that may be of importance to law enforcement.”

Ebert also noted Yang has had a difficult life and did not get rich off her crimes.

“She was a single mother endeavoring to keep her family and financial affairs afloat,” the prosecutor said.

Yang grew up in refugee camps in Southeast Asia and was a toddler when her mother died. She married at 15, had her first child at 16, and lost her husband to a stray bullet outside a St. Paul bar in 2004 before getting into multiple abusive relationships.

She got involved with AtWork Staffing through a romantic partner. When that relationship ended, she took over the business but agreed to what court-appointed defense attorney Tom Kelly called an unfair financial agreement that saw her hand over $729,000 in cash and $100,000 in real estate over four years while making little money herself.

“She was caught in a bind between paying her employees cash and paying off the debt she owed to her former partner,” Kelly said. “If she didn’t pay them in cash, they would go someplace else; this is common knowledge in the (staffing) industry.”

Kelly requested a sentence of 12 months of home monitoring so that Yang could continue raising her 3-year-old daughter while working in cosmetology for her adult daughter, but U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud sided with the prosecution.

Tostrud acknowledged Yang’s personal and financial struggles as he handed down the 15-month prison sentence, which also requires her to pay $1.02 million in restitution to the IRS with monthly payments of at least $250.

“You had a tough life, and in many ways, you have survived in spite of it,” Tostrud said.

However, the judge also noted Yang has a 2019 conviction for drug possession, for which she spent a month in jail.

In that case, the IRS was executing a search warrant at Yang’s home in 2018 when agents found 114 pounds of marijuana, three guns and $26,000 in cash, according to a probable cause statement filed in state court. Evidence from Yang’s phone and bank account suggested she was involved with growing marijuana on the West Coast and transporting it to Minnesota for sale.

Yang on Thursday promised the judge she never would return to court as a criminal defendant.

“I broke the law and I am sorry. I deeply regret the trouble I caused,” she said. “I am grateful that this country offers a second chance to those who earn it.”

Yang was allowed to return home after sentencing. She must report next month to serve her prison term.

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