A federal jury has convicted Dallas business owner Heaven Marie Diaz, 57, on all five counts of failing to pay over trust fund taxes, announced Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson. The verdict came Friday after a four-day trial and less than an hour of jury deliberation.
Diaz, owner and CEO of Pursuit of Excellence, a staffing company, was indicted in 2023. Evidence presented at trial showed that from 2015 to 2017, she withheld over $3 million in payroll taxes from her employees' paychecks but failed to remit these funds to the IRS as required by law.
Former employees and Diaz’s former accountant testified they repeatedly warned her about her tax obligations. Despite these warnings, Diaz continued to withhold the taxes, keeping the funds in her company’s bank accounts. Evidence revealed she used the money for personal expenses, including international travel, luxury goods, and a $10,000 monthly rent payment for a home in Dallas’s Preston Hollow neighborhood. Diaz attempted to convince the jury that these were legitimate business expenditures, even claiming her rent was a business expense because she occasionally hosted "murder mystery" parties for networking.
“This defendant defrauded taxpayers and stole from her employees, so that she could live lavishly,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson. “She is now rightly held accountable for her actions. In the end, her extravagance was her undoing. The diligent work of the investigative agents assigned to this case unearthed her fraudulent scheme and put a stop to it.”
Christopher J. Altemus Jr., IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office, added, “The jury’s guilty verdict is a stark reminder that anyone who betrays the trust of employees and their responsibilities to the IRS will face the full weight of accountability.”
Diaz faces up to five years in federal prison on each count. She is scheduled to be sentenced in September 2025 by United States Chief District Judge David C. Godbey, who presided over the trial.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan P. Niedermair and Joshua D. Detzky, with contributions from Elise Aldendifer, Marcus Busch, and Jenna Rudoff.
