SAN JOSE – On April 13, 2021, the San Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced that the San Jose owner of a flooring company has been charged with fraud after being caught allegedly lying that he had only a single full-time employee and not paying close to a $1 million in overtime to the numerous employees who were working for him.

Martin Helda, 33, of All Bay Area Floors, is facing 20 felony counts of Workers Compensation Premium fraud, Employment Development Department fraud, and wage theft.

“Workers who show up to a job and perform to the best of their ability should never have to be worried about being cheated out of pay or not protected by workers’ comp insurance,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona.  “This type of criminal behavior catches up to unscrupulous business owners when state and local investigators combine their resources to investigate.”

The investigation, in partnership with the California Department of Insurance, began after an insurance audit revealed that Helda’s payroll did not match the number of people he had working for him.

The investigation uncovered that Helda allegedly withheld at least $900,000 in overtime wages owed to employees known to EDD, but possibly as much as $1.7 million owed to all employees including those not known to EDD.

Investigators are currently looking for other possible victims who worked for Helda’s company,