Crime & Safety
Worcester Fraud Case Ends In 2-Year Federal Prison Sentence
A man who ran two Worcester employment agencies was sentenced this week on fraud charges.
WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester man who previously pleaded guilty to more than a dozen counts of wire fraud and failure to pay taxes was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison this week, according to prosecutors.
Tam Vuong, 46, who ran the employment agencies Prime Labor LLC and UT Services, Inc., concealed cash payments to employees between 2012 and 2017, allowing him to skirt tax payments, federal prosecutors said.
"Each agency paid a few employees by check but paid most employees in cash," the U.S. Attorney in Boston said in a news release. "Each agency failed to report or pay taxes on the wages paid in cash, which Vuong fraudulently concealed in tax filings and insurance audits. Vuong concealed millions of dollars in cash wages that were paid to Prime Labor workers and additional cash wages paid by UT Services."
Vuong will serve a 25-month prison sentence, plus three years of supervised release. Two other former employees of the employment agencies have also been charged: Julio Lopez is set to be sentenced in January; and Lina Le was sentenced in May to two years of probation for giving false testimony before a federal grand jury, according to prosecutors.
