In a recent case in New York, high-ranking garment factory executive Ai Zhen Xu (Ai Zhen Xu, phonetic translation) was charged last year with concealing company income and tax evasion. This week, on Monday (April 7th), she pleaded guilty in the federal Southern District Court of New York to the charge of failure to collect, account for, and pay payroll taxes.
At 71 years old, Xu Ai Zhen resides in Port Washington, Long Island, New York, and previously served as Vice President and Secretary of the garment company Winner Fashions, Inc.
According to federal prosecutor Damian Williams’ previous allegations, from 2016 to at least 2021, Xu collaborated with a check-cashing service provider to convert some of the company’s income into cash, totaling around $3.8 million. She then concealed this cash flow from the accountants when filing taxes, leading to the company’s failure to accurately report this to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The prosecution pointed out that during Xu Ai Zhen’s tenure, she also paid employees in cash to evade payroll records and tax withholdings, resulting in over $290,000 in unpaid payroll taxes.
As outlined in the pre-plea agreement before her guilty plea on April 7th, the prosecution charged Xu as the payroll tax person in charge for Winner Fashions. During the first quarter of 2016 through the final quarter of 2021 (except for the second quarter of 2020), she knowingly and intentionally failed to collect, account for, and remit payroll taxes in compliance with the law, resulting in underpayment of at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes.