Virginia Business Owner Pleads Guilty to $2.7 MIllion Payroll Tax Fraud

A Virginia Beach, Va., businesswoman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that she failed to pay more than $2.7 million in payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service over an eight year timespan — while dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury purchases.

Wendy Brockenbrough, 53, is charged with three felony counts of willful failure to collect or pay taxes deducted from her employees’ paychecks, and is facing a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. The charges stem from three instances in 2019 in which she is accused of “failing to truthfully account for and pay to the IRS” the federal income taxes and Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes withheld from her three businesses: East West Construction, Sea Trader Marine, and Coastal Pipeline Services, according court records.

“Brockenbrough attempted to conceal her actions by lying to her accountants and stating that she made the payments,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a statement. “To support her claims, she forged IRS records and Quickbook entries showing the taxes had been paid.”