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Press Release

Owner of North Carolina Temporary Staffing Firms Sentenced to Prison for Employment Tax Fraud

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

A Greensboro, North Carolina, business owner was sentenced to 42 months in prison yesterday for failing to pay employment taxes, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin for the Middle District of North Carolina.

According to documents and information provided to the court, Rebecca Adams, 57, and her daughter Elizabeth Wood, 40, operated a temporary staffing businesses in Greensboro under the names A & R Staffing Solutions Inc., Wood Executive Services Inc., and Adams Staffing Enterprises Inc. Adams and her daughter withheld federal and state taxes from employees’ paychecks, but did not pay those taxes to the IRS. In 2015, Wood pleaded guilty to embezzling employee tax withholdings that were due to the state and was sentenced to prison. During Wood’s period of incarceration for the state payroll tax fraud, Adams continued to withhold taxes from employees’ paychecks, but did not pay those taxes over to the IRS. Adams also did not file with the IRS a required quarterly payroll tax return.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge N. Carlton Tilley Jr., ordered Adams to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $2,222,834 in restitution to the United States.

On June 25, 2020, Wood was sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to pay over employment taxes, and ordered to pay approximately $2,338,766 in restitution to the United States.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Martin thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Kevin Schneider of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Chut, who prosecuted the case.

Updated October 7, 2020

Topics
Financial Fraud
Tax
Press Release Number: 20-1064