A former staffing firm operator was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $845,382 in restitution in a payroll tax scheme, the US Department of Justice reported.

The former staffing firm operator, Lilian Giang, 56, had been convicted in April on four counts of failing to collect and pay over taxes and one count of mail fraud, according to the department. The conviction followed a three-day trial.

Giang operated the Able Temp Agency in Quincy, Massachusetts, between 2015 and 2019 and paid temporary workers under the table through a combination of checks and cash, the department said. Giang hid more than $3.2 million in payroll and avoided paying more than $800,000 in payroll taxes.

She also falsified payroll numbers to get lower workers’ comp premiums, according to the department.

An attorney for Giang said that neither she nor the defendant had comment on the case.