PITTSBURGH - The owner of a Pennsylvania company that supplies immigrant workers to an area that has seen its Haitian population explode faces prison time after pleading guilty to tax crimes and harboring illegal workers.
The Department of Justice announced Feb. 24 that Andy Ha, of Belle Vernon, pleaded guilty to two criminal counts that could land him in jail for up to 15 years. It was alleged in a January filing that Ha's Prosperity Services, Inc., hid illegal workers from the Internal Revenue Services.
He also harbored illegal aliens in a hotel "for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain," the DOJ alleged.
"In addition, defendant Ha cost the U.S. government millions of dollars through his failure to pay taxes related to his business," acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Tony Rivetti said.
Prosperity operates in Charleroi in Washington County, where the increase in Haitian immigrants has become an issue garnering attention from people like President Donald Trump.
Trump stated during an Arizona rally before his November election that Pennsylvanians should keep the 2,000% increase of Haitian immigrants in Charleroi in mind when they vote.
The increase in Haitians in Charleroi has come under the program CHNV Parole, which allows up to 30,000 nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply for residence in the United States each month, American Compass reports.
Among Prosperity client's is Fourth Street Barbeque, a packer of food products that employs more than 1,000 legal immigrants. Its owner, Dave Barbe, has sued a critic who has complained immigrants have taken jobs once belonging to "native Americans."
That defendant, Andrew Armbruster, says in court records that Barbe is acting like a "big baby."
The federal government had been investigating Prosperity for months before bringing charges in January. In October, Action News reported feds seized nearly $1 million in cash from Prosperity and Ha.
Some workers were illegally paid with cash, the feds said. The report quotes Barbe as saying, "I don't know anything about it. The federal government has asked us questions, asked us to provide documentation, and we've done everything that they've asked for."
In the first quarter of 2023, Prosperity reported 20 workers and almost $175,000 in wages, but the feds said those figures were way off. Prosperity actually had at least 200 workers and paid more than $5 million in wages that quarter.
"That is, Defendant failed to pay over at least $882,836.87 in employment taxes, including $441,418.43 in trust fund taxes," the DOJ alleged.
Ha paid for more than 25 illegal immigrants to stay in a former hotel and for their transportation to and from work in vans. He also provided false information to his tax return preparer that the DOJ says cheated the IRS out of at least $3.1 million.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 2022. The guilty plea to tax crimes carries a maximum sentence of five years, and the max for his harboring charge is up to 10 years, plus fines and restitution.