Businesswoman Found Guilty of Tax and Mail Fraud

BOSTON – A Randolph woman was convicted yesterday by a federal jury in Boston in connection with her involvement in a payroll tax avoidance scheme. 

Lilian Giang, 56, was convicted following a three-day jury trial of four counts of failing to collect and pay over taxes and one count of mail fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for July 2024. Giang was indicted in March 2023.

“Every honest taxpayer is a victim of this type of crime. This defendant made hundreds of thousands of dollars after she decided that the rules we all live by don’t apply to her. Now she’s a convicted felon. This should send a clear message that if you engage in tax fraud, the consequences are very serious,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy.

“The conviction of Lilian Giang demonstrates the IRS’s commitment to protecting all American taxpayers, especially those who are most vulnerable,” said Special Agent in Charge, Harry T. Chavis Jr., IRS Criminal Investigation Boston Field Office. “Giang operated her business under the guise of helping the vulnerable Vietnamese immigrant community, when in fact, she exploited them for her own self-enrichment by paying them below minimum wage, charging substantially more than she paid them, and evading paying her own fair share of taxes.”

Between 2015 and 2019, Giang owned and operated Able Temp Agency, a temporary employment agency in Quincy that served client companies in Massachusetts. The client companies paid Able Temp Agency for the temporary employees’ work on an hourly basis. Giang deposited those payments into bank accounts in the name of Able Temp Agency that she controlled, and then paid the temporary employees through a combination of checks and cash. By using cash payments, Giang hid over $3.2 million in payroll and avoided paying more than $800,000 in required payroll taxes. Giang also used false payroll numbers to obtain worker’s compensation insurance at lower premium rates. 

The charge of mail fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, restitution and forfeiture. The charge of failure to collect or pay over taxes provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $10,000 and restitution. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Acting U.S. Attorney Levy and IRS SAC Chavis made the announcement. The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts provided assistance in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Markham and Kristen A. Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case.