A Long Island tax preparer has admitted to quietly skimming more than a quarter of a million dollars from a client’s auto repair shop, and some of that money went to OnlyFans subscriptions. According to Long Island Business News‘s Adina Genn, Bellport tax preparer Fabian Delgado pleaded guilty in Suffolk County to third-degree grand larceny and other charges for stealing more than $260,000 from a Patchogue auto shop.

How the scheme worked

As LongIsland.com lays out from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s announcement, Delgado prepared taxes for the auto body shop from 2021 to 2025. Every quarter he figured out what the business owed New York State and told the owner that number. Then he filed falsified returns that underreported the shop’s gross sales, paid the smaller amount to the state from the business’s own bank accounts, and kept the difference.

Across 16 transactions, that added up to $260,687.22. The shop owner believed the full amount had been going to the state the whole time.

Where the money went

The OnlyFans detail is what made the headlines, but it was one item on a long list. News 12 reports that prosecutors say Delgado spent the stolen funds on OnlyFans subscriptions, mortgage payments, credit card bills, airline tickets, food and even his own income taxes. Prosecutors did not say how much of the total went to OnlyFans.

District Attorney Raymond Tierney called it “a serious violation of professional duty and criminal law” and said, “The lesson here is that in Suffolk County, crime does not pay.”

What happens next

According to The South Shore Press, the 34-year-old entered his plea on October 26 before Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei, admitting to third-degree grand larceny, a felony, and second-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a misdemeanor. He is due back in court on January 28, 2027, when he is expected to get 364 days in jail on each charge, served back to back.

He has already repaid $56,000 and will have to pay back the remaining $204,687 as part of his sentence. He is represented by the Legal Aid Society.

The takeaway

OnlyFans keeps turning up in court stories like this one, usually as a punchline in the headline. The bigger lesson here is for small business owners: if one person calculates your taxes and also has access to your bank accounts, check the actual filings now and then. This shop owner trusted the numbers for four years before the missing money came to light.

Featured image: AI-generated illustration, not the actual business.