A Chicago federal grand jury indicted an Illinois business owner for not paying employment taxes in the region of $600,000, amongst other offenses.
These included not filing business tax returns, wire fraud, and giving falsified information and statements on a loan application.
The indictment returned centered on Steven Cordell, the owner and operator of Starfish Transportation Inc. According to the court report, Cordell was allegedly responsible for “withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from his employees’ wages and paying those funds over to the IRS each quarter.”
IRS Criminal Investigations and the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General are investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Regina Jeon and Thomas Flynn of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
Chicago transport company owner indicted for tax and other fraud charges
The report continued that Cordell allegedly “withheld taxes from employees’ wages, as required, but did not pay over the full amount withheld to the IRS,” from 2018 through 2024.
Cordell reportedly made false applications to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) program.
Both of these economic loan programs were set up to relieve struggling businesses from the strains of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cordell submitted unfiled tax returns and provided false financial data in these applications.
The transport company owner did not alert those involved in the application process that Starfish Transportation had received “a PPP loan on the CERTS grant application, as required. The indictment alleges that Cordell received $247,822.51 in fraudulent PPP loans and $598,574.21 in fraudulent CERTS grants.”
Cordell faces a maximum penalty of 30 years for filing a false loan application, 20 years for wire fraud, five years for not paying employment taxes, and one year for each charge of failure to file returns.
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