The owner of a Massachusetts temp agency is facing charges in connection with trying to evade paying over $2.4 million in federal payroll taxes, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
A federal grand jury indicted 67-year-old Lowell resident Henry Lam on charges of failure to collect and pay taxes and mail fraud on Jun 25, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.
Between 2016 and 2023, Lam owned and operated HL Temporary Services — a Lowell-based temporary employment agency that served client companies in Massachusetts, the U.S Attorney’s office said. He is accused of cashing the checks clients paid him for the temp employees’ work and primarily paying the those workers in cash to allow him to hide over $6.1 million in payroll from the federal government.
Through this scheme, Lam avoided paying more than $2.4 million in payroll taxes, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He is also accused of using HL Temporary Services’ false payroll numbers to obtain worker’s compensation insurance at lower premium rates.
Lam was scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in federal court in Boston late in the day on Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He faces up to 25 years in prison, six years of supervised release and millions in restitution and forfeiture if convicted on both counts.
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