Operators of Florida labor staffing companies sentenced to more than three years in prison for tax and immigration charges

Date: April 22, 2024

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Two operators of several Key West, Florida, labor staffing companies - including PSEB Services Inc., E.S.F. Services Inc. and Expert Services F.S. Inc. - were each sentenced to over three years in prison today for tax and immigration-related crimes.

According to court documents and statements made in court, at various times between January 2014 and October 2019, Zdenek Strnad, Vasil Khatiashvili and others helped run a series of labor staffing companies that facilitated the employment in hotels, bars and restaurants in Key West and elsewhere of non-resident aliens who were not authorized to work in the United States. These labor staffing companies did not withhold federal income taxes or Social Security and Medicare taxes from these workers' wages and did not report the wages to the IRS.

U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez for the Southern District of Florida sentenced Strnad to 44 months in prison and Khatiashvili to 38 months in prison. In addition to their prison sentences, Judge Martinez ordered Strnad and Khatiashvili to both serve three years of supervised release and to pay $1,836,960.68 in restitution to the United States.

Khatiashvili and Strnad's co-defendant, Petr Sutka, was sentenced to 48 months in prison on March 18.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Matthew D. Line of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami made the announcement.

IRS-CI and HSI investigated the case.

Senior Litigation Counsel Sean Beaty and Trial Attorneys Jessica A. Kraft, Nicholas J. Schilling Jr., Matthew C. Hicks and Wilson Rae Stamm of the Justice Department's Tax Division and Senior Litigation Counsel Christopher J. Clark of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida prosecuted the case.