Federal authorities arrested the owner of an Orange County staffing company and three others on charges related to a $90 million tax fraud scheme. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Lorena Padilla, 49, of Villa Park, is accused of leading a conspiracy that involved failing to pay employment taxes withheld from temporary workers’ wages and using those funds for personal expenses.
Padilla faces one count each of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, along with six counts of failure to account for and pay over employment taxes. She is expected to appear in United States District Court in Santa Ana.
Three other individuals—Selina Medina Preciado, 30, of Whittier; Carlos Padilla, 40, of Chino; and Pablo Araque, 55, of Downey—were also arrested and are scheduled for arraignment in Los Angeles federal court. Two additional defendants are expected to appear in court in the coming weeks. Authorities are searching for another defendant identified as Janine J. Garcia.
The indictment alleges that between January 2012 and September 2024, the defendants operated several staffing companies based in Los Angeles and Riverside counties: Platinum Staffing (Montebello), Payroll Staffing Solutions Inc. (Industry), Three Star Global Inc. (Corona), and Next Level Staffing (Maywood). These companies provided temporary workers across various industries while promising clients they would handle payroll tracking, paycheck distribution, tax withholding and payment, filing tax returns, and maintaining workers’ compensation insurance.
According to prosecutors, “To secure business for the companies, the defendants lied to potential customers that the companies would handle all employment taxes and workers’ compensation insurance on all temporary workers that the companies provided.” However, they allegedly failed to pay required federal and state employment taxes continuously.
From January 2018 through 2023, only a small portion of required workers’ compensation insurance premiums were paid by these companies. The indictment further claims that Padilla and others concealed their actions by hiring large numbers of undocumented immigrants as temporary workers because they were less likely to report unpaid taxes or alert authorities.
“From 2020 to 2025 alone,” according to prosecutors, “the defendants collectively understated the staffing companies’ federal employment taxes by more than $44 million.” The total loss from this alleged scheme exceeds $90 million.
Authorities say proceeds from these activities funded luxury purchases including real estate valued at millions of dollars in Riverside County and Yorba Linda; rental properties; vacations abroad; entertainment events; luxury vehicles such as Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces; as well as other personal expenses.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
If convicted on all counts, each defendant could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy charges; up to ten years for money laundering conspiracy; and up to five years per count for failing to pay employment taxes.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys James C. Hughes (Major Frauds Section) and Alexander Su (Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section), along with Trial Attorney Dominick Giovanniello from the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
