Sandston business owner pleads guilty to filing false tax returns and fraudulent pandemic relief applications

RICHMOND, Va. - A Sandston man pled guilty today to subscribing to a false tax return and wire fraud.

According to court documents, Kevin Alphonso Starlings, 40, was the sole owner and operator of several businesses, including Jeremiah Enterprises, Starlings Enterprises, The Service Sharks, ProSource Property Solutions, and Jeremiah Entertainment LLC. Starlings issued Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statements from his five businesses to himself, purportedly reflecting the wages, tips, and other compensation he was paid, and the trust fund taxes and federal income tax that were purportedly withheld and paid over to the IRS on his behalf.

For calendar years 2016 through 2022, Starlings filed false Forms 1040 falsely reporting, among other things, that his companies had withheld hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal tax from his income and that he had paid those funds to the IRS. In total, for years 2016 through 2022, Starlings falsely reported that he had withheld and paid to the IRS $827,290. None of Starlings' companies made any withholding or payment of federal taxes to the IRS on Starlings' behalf for those years.

From April 2020 through at least September 2021, Starlings fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief funds by submitting false and misleading applications to the Small Business Administration (SBA), Virginia Employment Commission (VEC), and North Carolina Division of Employment Security (DES).

For example, despite owning and operating his companies and reporting on his tax return that he earned $628,450 in wages in 2020, Starlings filed unemployment applications with the VEC and DES falsely claiming that he was laid off, terminated, or separated from his employment on March 20, 2020. Unaware of Starlings' fraud, the VEC and DES approved the fraudulent applications and Starlings received approximately $61,726 in unemployment funds.

Starlings also submitted fraudulent applications SBA for loans through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, intended to enable small businesses to meet financial obligations and operating expenses during the pandemic. Starlings submitted 11 EIDL applications for his businesses with misrepresentations including false gross revenue and costs and inflated or fabricated employee counts. Most of Starlings' EIDL applications were rejected by the SBA, but one application was approved causing the agency to disburse $15,000 to Starlings.

Starlings is scheduled to be sentenced on July 16. He faces up to 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carla Jordan-Detamore is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District CourtLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACERLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. by searching for Case No. 3:26-cr-21.