RICHMOND, Va. — A former candidate for the Richmond City School Board pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of federal tax evasion charges.
CBS 6 previously reported that Kevin Starlings, who ran for school board in 2016 and 2024, was accused of filing false tax returns and defrauding hundreds of thousands of dollars from the COVID-19 relief program.
Starlings appeared solemn in court Wednesday as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia discussed potential sentencing for the charges of subscribing to a false tax return and wire fraud.
According to court documents, between 2016 and 2022, Starlings falsely filed 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. He owes a total of $827,290 in taxes, as none of his companies made any withholding or payment of taxes to the IRS.
Starlings also fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief funds by submitting false and misleading applications to obtain unemployment benefits. On April 10, 2020, Starlings submitted an unemployment insurance application with the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) with false and misleading representations about his employment history and status, despite owning and operating five businesses, including Jeremiah Enterprises and Starling Enterprises. He falsely claimed he was terminated from his employment on March 20, 2020, but he was still self-employed and operating his companies.
Starlings submitted weekly recertifications of unemployment status to the VEC while still profiting from his businesses. For example, it was reported on Starlings' 2021 tax returns that his businesses earned $755,676 in total that year.
Starlings was indicted for felony embezzlement in 2008, but his rights were restored by Gov. Terry McAuliffe in 2016.
Starlings will be sentenced on July 16, 2026, at 2 p.m. He faces a maximum sentence of three years for subscribing to a false tax return and a maximum of 30 years for wire fraud.
CBS 6 reached out to Starlings for a statement and did not hear back.
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