A federal grand jury has indicted a local company owner for failing to file employment tax returns and not paying taxes withheld from employee paychecks. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Matters Karen Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Joseth Limon, the accused, is scheduled to make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christina A. Bryan at 2 p.m.

The indictment claims that Limon owned Platinum Employment Group Inc., a company providing laborers to businesses in the Houston area. Between 2016 and 2018, Platinum allegedly paid its employees over $3.5 million and withheld more than $450,000 from their paychecks. During this time, Limon is accused of failing to remit the withheld employment taxes to the IRS and not filing any employment tax returns for Platinum.

If found guilty, Limon could face up to five years in prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000.

The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shirin Hakimzadeh and Trial Attorney Curtis Weidler of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division are handling the prosecution.

It is important to note that an indictment is merely a formal accusation of criminal conduct and not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty through due process of law.