Date: June 17, 2025
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A federal jury convicted a Dallas business owner Friday of failing to pay over employment taxes withheld from her employees, announced Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson.
Heaven Marie Diaz, of Dallas, Texas, was indicted in 2023. Following a four-day trial and less than an hour of deliberation, the jury found her guilty on all five counts of failing to pay over trust fund taxes.
According to evidence presented at trial, Diaz was the owner and CEO of Pursuit of Excellence, a staffing company based in Dallas. From 2015 to 2017, she withheld payroll taxes from her employees’ paychecks but failed to remit more than $3 million to the IRS as required by law.
Former employees and Diaz’s former accountant testified that they repeatedly warned her about her obligation to pay employment taxes. Despite those warnings, Diaz continued to withhold the taxes and kept the funds in her company’s bank accounts. Evidence showed she used those funds to cover personal expenses, including international travel, luxury goods, and $10,000 monthly rent on a home in Dallas’s Preston Hollow neighborhood. Diaz took the stand and attempted to convince the jury that these items were business expenditures, including her rent payment, which she claimed qualified as a business expense because she occasionally threw “murder mystery” parties as an opportunity to network.
“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.”
“Heaven Marie Diaz abused her power and lived the highlife with trust fund/employment taxes due to the IRS,” said Christopher J. Altemus Jr., IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office. “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 is scheduled to be sentenced in September 2025, before United States Chief District Judge David C. Godbey, who presided over the trial. Diaz faces up to five years in federal prison on each count.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan P. Niedermair and Joshua D. Detzky are prosecuting the case. Appellate Division Assistant U.S. Attorney Elise Aldendifer and Assistant U.S. Attorneys (fmr.) Marcus Busch and Jenna Rudoff also contributed to the prosecution.
IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.