Defendant did not report $1 million in income, causing over $300,000 loss to IRS Date: April 24, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov A former Massachusetts golf course manager was sentenced to 13 months in prison yesterday for conspiring to defraud the United States, filing false tax returns and making a false statement to a financial institution. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Kevin Kennedy conspired with a luxury home builder in western Massachusetts to evade taxes he owed on money he received from his management of two municipal golf courses owned by the City of Springfield. The home builder constructed custom homes for Kennedy in East Longmeadow and on Cape Cod. Kennedy paid for much of the homes in cash he received from the golf courses. For the East Longmeadow home, Kennedy and the home builder created two contracts, one with the agreed-upon purchase price and one with a deflated purchase price. The latter contract listed a purchase price that was $160,000 lower than the contract price, which was the amount Kennedy had paid in cash as a down payment to the home builder. To induce the bank to provide him a mortgage for part of the East Longmeadow home, Kennedy submitted the deflated home purchase contract to the bank. Just prior to trial, Kennedy pleaded guilty to filing false individual income tax returns. According to court documents and statements made in court, for tax years 2009 through 2014, Kennedy filed false tax returns that did not report all the cash and checks he received from his golf course management. In total, Kennedy underreported his income by more than $1 million, resulting in a tax loss to the IRS exceeding $300,000. In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni for the District of Massachusetts ordered Kennedy to serve three years of supervised release. Judge Mastroianni will determine the amount of restitution at a later date. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant Chief Eric B. Powers of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Desroches for the District of Massachusetts prosecuted the case.
