DOJ says Lim Ou and his daughter Nalen Ou were arrested on federal tax charges related to temporary employment agencies. Prosecutors allege they concealed more than $48 million in cash payroll by allegedly failing to collect and pay employment taxes.

The U.S. Department of Justice, through the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, announced the arrest of Lim Ou and his daughter Nalen Ou on federal tax fraud charges. DOJ alleges the defendants operated temporary employment agencies without collecting and paying employment taxes that were owed to the government. According to prosecutors, the alleged scheme involved concealed payroll cash—DOJ states the defendants allegedly hid more than $48 million in cash payroll. The filing and arrest narrative focus on employment-tax obligations, which can arise when businesses classify workers through staffing or temporary arrangements and are required to withhold, collect, and remit employment taxes. Tax fraud tied to staffing operations can function as part of a broader fraud ecosystem: workers may be paid in cash while tax duties are ignored, and the business may use misleading records to obscure its true payroll amounts. DOJ’s allegations portray a deliberate effort to evade tax requirements, not a simple mistake. For employers and compliance teams, the case underscores that temporary staffing models do not eliminate payroll tax responsibilities. For workers and vendors, it signals that payroll transparency and proper remittance of employment taxes are essential safeguards against long-tail legal and financial harm.