A man from Sicklerville, New Jersey, has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
Chung “Alex” Lam, aged 46, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Edward S. Kiel to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The sentencing took place in Camden federal court.
Court documents and statements reveal that Lam had previously pleaded guilty in 2018 to failing to pay payroll taxes and served an 18-month sentence during parts of 2019 and 2020. After his release, he conspired with owners of temporary staffing companies to defraud the IRS. These companies were responsible for collecting and paying payroll taxes for temporary workers they provided to businesses.
Lam negotiated over $4 million in checks meant for staffing company payments through a commercial check casher between early 2018 and mid-2023. He retained some cash for personal use while distributing the rest among co-conspirators to pay workers under the table, bypassing payroll tax obligations. Additionally, Lam filed false income tax returns omitting earnings from this scheme, leading to a tax loss estimated at $628,351.
In addition to his prison sentence, Judge Kiel imposed three years of supervised release on Lam.
U.S. Attorney Habba credited IRS-Criminal Investigation special agents under Special Agent in Charge Jenifer Piovesan’s direction with leading the investigation that resulted in this sentencing.
The government’s case was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.
Defense counsel for Lam was John B. Brennan, Esq., based in Marlton, NJ.
