Date: December 13, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov BOSTON — The former operator of two municipal golf courses in Western Massachusetts has been convicted by a federal jury in Springfield of conspiring to defraud the United States and making a false statement. Kevin M. Kennedy of East Longmeadow was convicted on Dec. 11, 2023 of conspiracy to defraud the United States and making a false Statement to a federally insured financial institution. The defendant was acquitted of embezzlement from a local government receiving federal benefits, wire fraud, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for March 1, 2024. "This guilty verdict underscores the serious consequences for those who conspire to defraud the United States. No one is above the law, and we will vigorously pursue those who engage in illicit schemes to line their own pockets," said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. "The jury found that Kevin Kennedy defrauded the United States for the sole purpose of enriching himself. This type of fraud has consequences for every American taxpayer," said Harry Chavis Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI) in Boston. "As a result of this verdict, Kennedy now stands as a convicted felon, and will be sentenced for his actions." Kennedy owned and operated Kennedy Golf Management Inc., through which he managed the City of Springfield's two public golf courses, Franconia Golf Course and Veterans Memorial Golf Course. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Kennedy conspired with two individuals to evade taxes he owed on money received from his company. Kennedy paid for, mostly in cash, the construction of two custom homes in East Longmeadow and on Cape Cod. To induce the bank to provide him a mortgage for part of the East Longmeadow home, Kennedy submitted a home purchase contract to the bank that falsely reflected a total purchase price reduced by the $160,000 cash downpayment he had made. Just prior to trial, Kennedy pleaded guilty to four counts of filing a false individual income tax return for 2011 through 2014, during which he also admitted to filing a false return in 2009 and 2010. For each of those years, Kennedy did not report to his return preparer all of the cash and checks his management company received from his operation of the golf courses. The charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of making a false statement provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million. The tax fraud charges each provide for a sentence of up to three years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $100,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case. Acting U.S. Attorney Levy; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division; and CI SAC Chavis made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow and Neil L. Desroches of the Springfield Branch Office and Trial Attorney Eric B. Powers of the Justice Department's Tax Division are prosecuting the case. The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
