Virginia business owner guilty of fraudulent money grabs during COVID pandemic

A Virginia man faces up to 30 years in prison for a number of fraudulent money schemes dating back 10 years that finally caught up to him.

Kevin Alphonso Starlings, 40, of Sandston, pleaded guilty Wednesday to subscribing to a false tax return and wire fraud.

According to court documents, Starlings 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 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 falsely reported 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, Starlings falsely reported that he had withheld and paid 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, Virginia Employment Commission and North Carolina Division of Employment Security.

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 to the SBA for loans through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan 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.