Ismail J. Ramsey, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California
Two executives from Northern California have admitted to failing to remit employment taxes to the IRS. Lalo Valdez and Matthew Olson, who ran a San Jose-based health informatics and product development company, pleaded guilty in court.
According to court documents, Valdez served as CEO and Olson as CFO. They were responsible for managing the company's finances, including withholding Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes from employees' wages. However, they did not pay these taxes to the government from 2017 through mid-2021. Instead, funds were used for personal expenses such as country club memberships and sports tickets.
Olson also co-owned a day spa in Saratoga, California, where he similarly failed to remit collected taxes between 2017 and 2020. This resulted in an IRS tax loss exceeding $2.1 million for Olson and nearly $1.5 million for Valdez.
Both men face up to five years in prison with sentencing scheduled for October 20. They may also face supervised release, restitution, and financial penalties. The sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge based on guidelines and statutory factors.
The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Robbins along with officials from the Justice Department’s Tax Division and IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Linda Nguyen of the Oakland Field Office.
IRS Criminal Investigation is handling the case investigation while Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina Green and Trial Attorney Mahana Weidler are prosecuting.
