Dallas, TX – A Dallas business owner convicted of failing to remit employment taxes withheld from her employees has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison, authorities announced.
Heaven Marie Diaz, 57, was indicted in 2023 and convicted by a jury in June 2025 on five counts of failing to pay over trust fund taxes. On [yesterday’s date], Senior U.S. District Judge David Godbey sentenced Diaz to 97 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay $799,033.47 in restitution.
According to court documents, Diaz was the owner and CEO of Pursuit of Excellence, a Dallas-based staffing company. Between 2015 and 2017, she withheld payroll taxes from her employees’ paychecks but failed to remit more than $3 million to the Internal Revenue Service, as required by law.
Former employees and the company’s accountant testified during the trial that Diaz had been repeatedly warned about her obligation to pay employment taxes. Despite these warnings, she allegedly kept the funds in the company’s bank accounts and used them to cover personal expenses, including international travel, luxury goods, and $10,000 monthly rent for a Preston Hollow home in Dallas.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould commented, “The defendant lied to her employees and embezzled employment taxes out of greed. The substantial prison sentence of eight years reflects the seriousness of the offense and the collaborative investigative work by our AUSAs and IRS-CI. We will continue to pursue these offenses to protect federal funds and ensure that tax dollars are spent as intended rather than to fund a defendant’s lavish lifestyle.”
Special Agent in Charge Christopher J. Altemus Jr. of the IRS Criminal Investigation Dallas Field Office said, “Heaven Diaz stole from her employees and the American taxpayer to fund a lifestyle she didn’t earn. She ignored repeated warnings, misused her position, and treated trust fund taxes like a personal bank account. Today’s sentencing is the result of IRS-CI’s relentless investigative work.”
The IRS Criminal Investigation division conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan P. Niedermair and Joshua D. Detzky prosecuted the case.
