EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday, a Wilkes-Barre woman was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison for tax fraud.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Madeline Nieves, age 49, of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, was sentenced on Tuesday, October 10, to 15 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States.
Nieves was also sentenced to serve a three-year term of supervised release, following her term of imprisonment.
According to U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Nieves previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to evade taxes, for both her personal tax returns, and for a business that she operated.
Specifically, Nieves pleaded guilty to conspiring with other individuals to defraud the
IRS, from 2018 to 2020, in connection with staffing company Encore Staffing Solutions LLC,
leased temporary employees to manufacturing businesses throughout Pennsylvania and received over $1.2 million in revenue.
Nieves failed to withhold, report, and pay Encore Staffing Solutions LLC employee wages to the IRS. Nieves also failed to report her own personal income from Encore Staffing Solutions LLC to the IRS.
The crimes resulted in a tax loss of nearly $160,000, which Nieves was ordered to pay in restitution to the IRS.
Five other individuals were previously prosecuted in this investigation:
- Mark Holmes, age 66, of Hughes Springs, Texas, pleaded guilty to accepting, as the
General Manager of the Pennsylvania food services company, approximately
$400,000 in bribes and kickbacks from temporary staffing companies Global Staffing
Services, Inc. and Penns Independent Staffing, in exchange for hiring their
employees. The two temporary staffing companies, in turn, received approximately
$7,800,000 from Holmes’s employer. Holmes also pleaded guilty to failing to remit
approximately $135,000 in employment taxes to the IRS that were owed by Encore
Staffing Solutions LLC. Holmes awaits sentencing. - Nari Lam, age 31, of Wilmington, Delaware, pleaded guilty to failing to remit
employment taxes to the IRS. From 2016 through 2020, Nari Lam, as the owner of
temporary staffing company Penns Independent Staffing, failed to pay approximately
$300,000 in employment taxes owed by Penns Independent Staffing to the IRS. Nari
Lam awaits sentencing. - Danny Sing, age 60, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to conspiring with
other individuals to evade federal income taxes for approximately $1,600,000 in
wages paid by Global Staffing Services, Inc. to its employees, and to failing to
withhold and remit approximately $1,360,000 in federal employment taxes to the
IRS. Danny Sing and his coconspirators paid Global Staffing Services, Inc.
employees in cash paid themselves in cash, and cashed all checks received from
Global Staffing Services, Inc.’s clients, to conceal the income and wages from the
IRS. The criminal activities occurred between 2013 and 2020. Sing also pleaded
guilty to providing in excess of approximately $400,000 in bribes and kickbacks to
managers and supervisors at Global Staffing Services, Inc.’s client, to obtain business
for Global Staffing Services, Inc. Sing awaits sentencing. - Den Lam, age 49, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was charged in an information
alleging that he conspired with other individuals to evade federal income taxes for
approximately $1,600,000 in wages paid by Global Staffing Services, Inc. to its
employees. Den Lam also was charged with failing to withhold and remit
approximately $1,360,000 in federal employment taxes owed, but never paid, by
Global Staffing Services, Inc. to the IRS. - Jason R. Bonnewell, age 41, of North Abington Township, Pennsylvania, was
indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to commit honest services fraud and
filing false tax returns. Bonnewell, during his tenure as a supervisor at a
Pennsylvania food services company from 2014 to 2019, allegedly accepted cash
bribes and other things of value from the owners and operators of Global Staffing
Services, Inc. and Penns Independent Staffing. In exchange for the kickbacks,
Bonnewell and his coconspirators entered contracts with and hired the temporary
employees of the two staffing companies. Allegedly, over $13,000,000 were paid to
the two staffing companies, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in
kickbacks. Bonnewell also was charged with three counts of filing false tax returns,
for tax years 2017 through 2019, for allegedly failing to disclose the cash payments
on his tax returns. Bonnewell awaits trial.
Nieves was sentenced to 15 months in prison, followed by a three-year term of supervised release.
