Dallas Tax Fraud Lawyers

Last Updated on: 13th December 2025, 12:57 am

Dallas Tax Fraud Lawyers: When Staffing Companies Steal From Their Own Employees

Heaven Marie Diaz ran a staffing company in Dallas called Pursuit of Excellence. Every paycheck, she withheld taxes from her employees – just like any employer is supposed to. The money came out of their wages. It was supposed to go to the IRS.

Instead, Diaz kept it. Over three years, from 2015 to 2017, she failed to remit more than $3 million in payroll taxes. Her employees thought their taxes were being paid. They weren’t. The money went to international travel, luxury goods, and $10,000 monthly rent on a home in Dallas’s Preston Hollow neighborhood.

A federal jury convicted her on five counts of failing to pay over trust fund taxes. The sentence: 97 months in federal prison – over eight years – plus $799,033.47 in restitution. Her employees? They face potential IRS problems for taxes that were supposed to be paid but never were.

The Staffing Company That Stole From Its Own Employees

Heres how employment tax fraud works. When you get a paycheck, your employer withholds money for federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare. Your pay stub shows those deductions. You expect that money to reach the IRS. Your Social Security account shows those contributions. Everything looks normal.

But the money never arrived. Diaz took the withholding and spent it on herself. Her employees had no idea. The deductions appeared on there paystubs, but the funds never reached the government. This went on for three years before investigators caught up with her.

Think about what that means for her employees. They filed tax returns expecting credit for withholding that was never paid. They expected Social Security contributions that never happened. When the fraud was discovered, they faced potential liability for taxes they thought were already paid.

The IRS calls this “trust fund taxes” becuase employers hold the money in trust for the government. Taking that money for personal use isnt just tax evasion – its theft from both the government and your own employees.

$10,000 Monthly Rent From Stolen Payroll Taxes

The Preston Hollow neighborhood in Dallas is one of the wealthiest in Texas. The homes there belong to executives, professional athletes, and business owners who can afford substantial rent. Heaven Marie Diaz lived there too – on money she stole from her employees’ paychecks.

OK so think about the evidence prosecutors presented at trial. They didnt just show that Diaz failed to pay taxes. They showed exactly where the money went. International travel. Luxury goods. A $10,000 monthly rent on a home in one of Dallas’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Every dollar she spent on lifestyle was a dollar she withheld from employees and kept from the IRS.

The sentencing judge – Senior U.S. District Judge David Godbey – had all this evidence before him. The luxury lifestyle funded by employee withholding. The continued theft despite warnings. 97 months in federal prison reflects that calculated betrayal.

The $1 Billion Tax Shelter Designed By A Dallas Attorney

Joseph Garza was a Dallas attorney. His alleged crime? Creating tax shelters to help wealthy clients hide more then one billion dollars in income from the IRS.

Thats not a typo. One billion dollars. A single attorney, allegedly helping high-net-worth clients conceal massive amounts of income through fraudulent tax shelter arrangements.

The federal grand jury indicted Garza on 18 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and 22 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of fraudulent income tax returns. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count.

Professional credentials dont protect you from prosecution. They make the prosecution worse. When prosecutors can show that a licensed attorney knowingly designed fraudulent structures, the willfulness element becomes impossible to dispute.

When Your Tax Preparer Defrauds The IRS

Festus Adenisimi owned FA Tax, a tax preparation business in Grand Prairie, just outside Dallas. His clients came to him expecting legitimate tax services. Instead, Adenisimi and three other tax preparers at FA Tax prepared fraudulent returns containing false credits and deductions. The estimated loss to the IRS exceeded $7.5 million.

The four tax preparers recieved a combined 105 months in federal prison. Adenisimi himself got 57 months and was ordered to pay over $10 million in restitution. The business he built on fraud became the vehicle for his imprisonment.

Another Dallas tax preparer was sentenced to 3½ years in prison and ordered to pay $11.9 million in restitution for filing fraudulent returns. The returns contained false education credits, fuel tax credits, and business losses.

Stolen Identities, UK Passports, And Fake Returns

Reminco Zhangazha operated a different kind of tax fraud scheme. He didnt steal from employers or file inflated returns for real clients. He stole identities entirely.

Zhangazha and his co-conspirators obtained stolen tax refunds by e-filing false and fraudulent income tax returns. They rented private mailboxes using alias names created from forged United Kingdom passports. They established bank accounts under those aliases. Then they filed returns using stolen identities and collected refunds that belonged to nobody.

The federal court sentenced Zhangazha to 93 months in prison – nearly eight years – and ordered him to pay $2,648,334 in restitution.

Texas Has No Income Tax – But You Still Face Prison

Like Houston and San Antonio, Dallas sits in a state with no income tax. This creates the same false confidence that traps people across Texas. They think “no state income tax” means less enforcement scrutiny. It dosent.

Federal prosecution fills the gap. The IRS and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas have full resources dedicated to tax fraud. The absence of state income tax dosent reduce your exposure – it concentrates all income tax enforcement attention on the federal side.

Texas does have sales tax, franchise tax, and other state-level obligations. The Texas Comptroller’s Criminal Investigations Division pursues sales tax fraud, with amounts over $200,000 triggering first-degree felony charges. But for income tax fraud, its entirely federal – and federal prosecutors maintain 90%+ conviction rates.

The Northern District’s Approach To Major Fraud

The Northern District of Texas covers Dallas, Fort Worth, and a significant portion of North Texas. The US Attorneys Office maintains dedicated prosecutors for financial crimes, including tax fraud.

The coordination with IRS Criminal Investigation means cases get built thoroughly. By the time charges get filed, the investigation is essentialy complete. The evidence is gathered. The spending patterns are documented. The willfulness is established.

And the sentences are real. Diaz got eight years. Zhangazha got nearly eight years. The FA Tax owner got nearly five years. These arent theoretical maximums that judges never impose. These are actual sentences handed down in Dallas courtrooms.

The Professional License Catastrophe

Dallas has a substantial professional population – doctors, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors. Many of these professionals dont realize that tax fraud can destroy there careers independant of criminal penalties.

The Texas State Bar investigates attorneys convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude. Tax fraud qualifies. A felony conviction can result in disbarment. Joseph Garza faces not just potential centuries in prison on his tax shelter charges – he faces losing the law license that enabled him to practice.

For CPAs in Dallas, the irony is especialy harsh. The Texas State Board of Public Accountancy licenses accountants precisely becuase the public trusts them with financial matters. A tax fraud conviction destroys that trust permanently.

Defense Strategy In Dallas

If your facing tax fraud exposure in Dallas, the calculus involves understanding how the Northern District operates.

The Diaz case shows what happens with employment tax fraud – over eight years for $3 million in stolen withholding. The Garza indictment shows the potential exposure for professional fraud – decades of potential prison time. The FA Tax case shows how preparer fraud destroys multiple defendants simultaneously.

The time to address tax fraud exposure is before any of that happens. Voluntary disclosure programs exist. Coming forward before the IRS finds you creates opportunities to resolve issues civily – with penalties and interest, but potentialy without prison.

Why Dallas Specificaly Creates Exposure

Dallas’s economy creates the kinds of tax situations that attract enforcement attention. Major corporations with complex compensation structures. Wealthy individuals seeking aggressive tax planning. Professional services firms with sophisticated clients.

The concentration of wealth in areas like Preston Hollow, Highland Park, and University Park means more high-income returns for the IRS to scrutinize. High earners get audited more frequently. More audits mean more discoveries. More discoveries mean more referrals to criminal investigation.

The professional services industry creates particular vulnerability. Law firms, accounting practices, financial advisory businesses – these are the kinds of operations that either facilitate fraud or become victims of it.

If theres tax fraud exposure in your situation – unreported income, aggressive deductions, employment taxes not properly paid – the time to address it is before anyone starts looking. Appeals go to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Your exposure persists untill you address it.