BOSTON — A father-daughter duo from Lowell were arrested on Friday, May 29, 2026, on federal tax charges for allegedly operated temporary employment agencies without collecting and paying the required employment taxes.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Lim Ou, 69, and his daughter, Nalen Ou, 39, were charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy and failure to collect and pay over taxes.
Federal prosecutors say that Lim and Nalen operated temporary employment agencies that provided temporary workers to businesses engaged in manufacturing, packaging, laundry services, and other general labor.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said temporary employment agencies are responsible for paying wages to their employees, reporting the wages to the Internal Revenue Service on a quarterly basis, withholding payroll deductions for income taxes, Social Security obligations and other amounts, and paying those taxes to the IRS. Temporary employment agencies charge client companies based on the number of workers provided and the hours they work, and the companies paying the agencies for those services.
According to the charging document, Lim and Nalen allegedly operated temporary employment agencies under several successive names beginning in 2013, including KHL, Inc. and Top Labors, Inc.
Between 2019 and 2025, they allegedly used a check cashing company in Worcester to cash more than $57 million in checks their agencies received from client companies for workers’ labor.
Federal prosecutors said the defendants allegedly used more than $48 million of that money to pay employees in cash “under the table,” without reporting the payroll to the IRS or paying required taxes on the wages.
Lim and Nalen also allegedly failed to pay over $12 million in federal employment taxes owed to the IRS from their agencies’ operations, according to prosecutors.
The conspiracy charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, and restitution.
The charge of failure to collect or pay over taxes also carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, and restitution.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Thomas Demeo, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigations in Boston, announced the charges. The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts provided assistance with the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Wild of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.
