South Philadelphia man pleads guilty to illegally transporting undocumented workers, tax fraud

A South Philadelphia labor contractor pleaded guilty to illegally transporting undocumented foreign workers and failing to pay employment and income taxes, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia said Wednesday.

Kim Meas, 60, a native of Cambodia, was the managing director of LS Services Corp., an employee leasing company in South Philadelphia. Prosecutors said he negotiated labor leasing contracts with various companies throughout the Philadelphia region and established 14 shell companies to create the illusion that the workers that LS leased to other companies were employed by the shells. The goal of that arrangement, prosecutors said, was to make the shells appear responsible for collecting and paying employment and income taxes for the employees.

Prosecutors said Meas attempted make it impossible for the IRS to determine the identity of the employer of the illegal aliens, as well as the amount of employment and income taxes that the employer of the illegal aliens was required to pay to the federal treasury. Prosecutors said LS also transported the undocumented foreign employees, free of charge, to various work locations in company vehicles.

The companies leasing employees from LS did not withhold federal income taxes on the wages paid to the employees, nor did these companies collect and pay to the Internal Revenue Service, employment taxes on the income earned by the workers. Meas had two co-conspirators, Ken Sem and Vivi Fnu, who previously pleaded guilty.

Meas pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, two counts of transporting illegal aliens and two counts of failure to collect and pay federal income and employment taxes. A sentenced date has not yet been determined.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security investigations and Internal Revenue Service criminal investigations.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal