Transcript of Cross Examination of Kristen DiIorio — USA v. Crowther (Dkt. 131, M.D. Fla. No. 2:20-mj-01094, docketed in No. 2:20-cr-00114)

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U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida · No. 2:20-cr-00114 · Doc. 131 · 2021-03-30 · Docket on CourtListener

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA 
FORT MYERS DIVISION 
 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,      ) Fort Myers, Florida 
                               ) 
                               ) Case 2:20-CR-114-FtM-66MRM 
Plaintiff                      ) 
                               ) Wednesday, March 24, 2021 
vs.                            ) 
                               ) 2:05 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. 
CASEY DAVID CROWTHER,          ) 
                               ) Courtroom 5D 
Defendant                      ) 
_______________________________)  
 
 
 
TRANSCRIPT OF JURY TRIAL CROSS-EXAMINATION OF KRISTEN DIIORIO 
 
HELD BEFORE THE HONORABLE JOHN E. STEELE, 
 
United States District Court Judge 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                            Official Court Reporter: 
                            Jeffrey G. Thomas, RPR, CRR 
                            2110 First Street, Suite 2-194 
                            Fort Myers, FL  33901 
                            Telephone:  (239) 461-2033 
 
 
(Proceedings reported by Stenotype; Transcript produced by 
computer-aided transcription.) 
Case 2:20-cr-00114-JES-M_M     Document 131     Filed 03/30/21     Page 1 of 13 PageID 883

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A P P E A R A N C E S 
 
 
COUNSEL FOR GOVERNMENT: 
 
                  United States Attorney's Office 
                  Middle District of Florida 
                  United States Courthouse 
                  2110 First Street 
                  Room 3-137 
                  Fort Myers, FL  33901 
                  (239)461-2200 
                  BY:  TRENT REICHLING, ESQ. 
                       MICHAEL V. LEEMAN, ESQ. 
 
 
COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT: 
 
                  FisherBroyles LLP 
                  2390 Tamiami Trail North 
                  Suite 100 
                  Naples, FL  34103 
                  BY:  NICOLE HUGHES WAID, ESQ 
                       BRIAN E. DICKERSON, ESQ. 
 
 
* * * 
 
 
* * * 
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
* * * P R O C E E D I N G S * * * 
- - - 
CROSS EXAMINATION 
BY MS. WAID: 
Q
Good afternoon, Miss DiIorio.
A
Hi.
Q
You testified, just a few minutes ago, about the PPP
application that was submitted on behalf of Target.
A
Um-hum.
Q
Is that correct?
A
Correct.
Q
And, during that process -- is that better to hear?
Okay.
During that process, you stated that you spoke to many
people at Target; is that accurate?
A
Yes.  Correct.
Q
Okay.  And would you say that some of your primary
contacts for getting all the documentation together, one was
Brad North?
A
Correct.
Q
Okay.  And the other person was Evelyn Portinari, who
was the head of human resources; is that accurate?
A
Correct.
Q
So was it your understanding that the decision to make a
PPP application was a management team decision?
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
A
I never really thought about it that way.  I just
figured the direction -- you know, being Casey's team, they
were just part of gathering the information on the checklist.
Q
Okay.  But the entire management team was involved in
that process; is that accurate?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
Now I want to go to the separate accounts briefly.
A
Um-hum.
Q
The PPP regulations don't require segregation of funds,
do they?
A
No.
Q
And where were you, at the time, as a bank, getting your
guidance from?
A
From our loan department.  Kyle DeCicco kind of headed
up that program with us.
Q
And, at the time that this was all going on back, you
know, late March early April, 2020, there was a lot of
confusion regarding the PPP; correct?
A
Correct.
Q
And everything was going extremely fast; correct?
A
Correct.
Q
And you were processing about how many applications at
that time?
A
Personally, I was working with about . . . I mean
throughout -- that was in the beginning, but, overall,
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
throughout that first one, about 120 different customers I was
working with.
Q
Okay.  There were two different accounts set up.  On
those accounts, is it accurate that the tax identification
number is the same, and it's Target Roofing's?
A
Correct.
Q
So if the tax identification number on one corporate
account is the same as the tax identification number on the
other corporate account, would that be considered corporate
funds?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
Now, you state that the -- at first, the PPP was only
accessible to Mr. Crowther; is that right?
A
Um-hum.
Q
Okay.  But clearly Brad North knew about the PPP amount
of money; correct?
A
I would assume so, since they were on a lot of the
e-mails.
Q
And actually brad North was on the -- was put down as
the main contact on the PPP application; is that correct?
A
I don't recall.
Q
Can you -- would anything refresh your recollection?
A
Okay.
Q
I'm going to put -- it's already been entered into
evidence as Government's Exhibit Number 6, I believe it is.
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
(Evidence was published via the projector.) 
A
Okay.
Q
Do you see where it says primary contact?
A
I do, yeah.
Q
Okay.  And can you please tell the jurors who that
primary contact was?
A
Sure.  Brad North.
Q
Okay.  And Evelyn Portinari also had knowledge about not
only the application, but the amount of money that was on that
application; correct?
A
Correct.
Q
Okay.  And, at some point in time shortly thereafter the
funds were received for Target, the funds were moved into the
operating account; is that true?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
And the payroll was normally processed out of that
operating account; is that accurate?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
And in order to process payroll out of the PPP account,
would they have -- would Target have to set up all new systems
with their payroll company, which was WBS?
A
If that's what they chose do, yeah, that would be one
option.
Q
Okay.  So once the -- once it's transferred, Target
actually uses all that money that's in the operating account to
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
pay payroll; is that correct?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
And do you normally prepare the wires for Target's
payroll?
A
I do, um-hum.
MR. REICHLING:  Objection, Your Honor, lack of
foundation.  Not lack of foundation, irrelevant.
THE COURT:  Overruled at this point.
BY MS. WAID: 
Q
So you do normally prepare the wires for Target's
payroll, is that accurate?
A
Um-hum.
Q
And you know that the PPP program was a 24-week period;
is that accurate?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
And, during that 24- week period, did you regularly
prepare wires for payroll on behalf of Target?
A
I don't -- I don't recall, at that time, if we were
doing wires for payroll.  I think maybe, originally, they were
ACH'd, electronically taken from the account.  More recently,
they turned to doing wires for the payroll.  I don't recall at
that time, and . . . originally, around that timeframe,
April/March of 2020, if we were doing wires at that time.
Q
How many wires a week do you actually do for Target?
A
A week?  Two to three I would say.
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
Q
I'm going to turn your attention and I'd ask to publish
what's already been entered into evidence as government's 27.
Court's indulgence.
(Ms. Waid and Mr. Dickerson confer privately.) 
BY MS. WAID: 
Q
For the record, this is actually Government's 31.  It's
already been put into evidence.
Now, this was the wire transfer to Steve Adkins; is that
right?
A
I'm sorry.  Yes, it was.
Q
Okay.  And Steve Adkins was a business partner of Casey
Crowther; is that correct?
A
Correct.
Q
And he was a prior owner of Target?
A
Correct.
Q
Mr. Adkins was also a client of Sanibel Captiva.
A
Correct.
Q
All right.  So you know who Steve Adkins is; correct?
A
I do, yes.
Q
And you weren't concerned when you saw this request;
correct?
A
No.
Q
And, in fact, didn't you assume, at the time, it was a
permissible expense under the bonus structure portion of the
payroll regs?
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
MR. REICHLING:  Objection, Your Honor.  Relevance.
THE COURT:  Overruled.
A
Sorry.  Would you mind repeating that one more time?
Q
Sure.  At the time that this was presented to the bank,
didn't you assume at the time it was a permissible expense
under the bonus structure portion of the regs?
A
Yes, I would say so.
Q
I want to go now to the wire itself, Number 31.  I'm
sorry, the wire itself.  Which has already been marked by the
government and put into evidence.  No not that.  The wire
itself.  All right.
So, when you were discussing the purpose of a wire.
A
Um-hum.
Q
The bank's required to obtain the password; correct?
A
Correct.
Q
The monetary amount; correct?
A
Correct.
Q
The amount and address for the attended transfer;
correct?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
The bank asked for a purpose; is that right?
A
Hum.
Q
And does the bank approve or disapprove the purpose of a
wire?
A
No.
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
Q
Does the bank verify the purpose of a wire?
A
No.
Q
Does the bank rely in any way upon the purpose of a
wire?
A
No.
Q
The bank could request more information about the
purpose.
A
Um-hum.
Q
Does that ever happen?
A
Not typically.
Q
Okay.  So would you say that the purpose of a wire is
akin almost to a memo line of a check?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
We can go back to 31.
(Evidence was published via the projector.) 
BY MS. WAID: 
Q
Okay.  So once you actually get all that information,
Miss DiIorio, you actually pass on that information to others
in the bank; is that accurate?
A
Correct.
Q
And where does that information go?
A
Well, it will first go, if I have somebody in office
that can approve my wire, I give the documents to them.
They'll review any attachments to make sure whatever I've put
into the system matches what was sent to us.  They will confirm
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
the dollar amount in our system, confirm it, and then scan it
over to our wire department, which will have another kind of
checks and balances to it.
Q
So you actually take the information first; is that
accurate?
A
Correct, um-hum.
Q
And then you send it to another bank employee, and that
bank employee actually verifies that information; is that true?
A
Correct.
Q
And then it's sent to a third person in the bank; is
that correct?
A
Correct.
Q
And so they send it to a third person; is that accurate?
A
Correct.
Q
And that third person then verifies the origination of
the wire, where the wire is going to; correct?
A
I'm not quite sure what they -- I know they call us to
verify the dollar amount again.  They want to make sure it's
received.  They do fact checks and back end stuff.  But yes,
I'm assuming they do all that too.
Q
So, before the wire leaves the bank, three people verify
the wire; correct?
A
Correct.
Q
And, in this case, they verified that the money was
actually going to Steve Adkins; correct?
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KYLE DECICCO - CROSS/WAID
A
Correct.
Q
Now, you stated that Larry Caudill is the comptroller;
is that right?
A
Correct.
Q
And Mr. Caudill, as comptroller -- I don't know that the
jury knows what that is.  Could you actually explain what a
comptroller is?
A
Kind of like the bookkeeper.  Kind of like the keeper of
the books.
Q
And, based upon that, the keeper of the books, would we
assume that Mr. Caudill has an accounting background; is that
correct?
A
I would assume.
MS. WAID:  Can we please pull up what's marked and
put into evidence as 37, please.
(Evidence was published via the projector.) 
BY MS. WAID: 
Q
Showing you what has been put into evidence already as
Number 30.  Do you recall that e-mail?
A
I do.
Q
Okay.  And that is a request for a transfer of funds;
correct?
A
Correct.
Q
Okay.  And can you please tell us where -- what account
those funds came out of?
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A
This wire came out of the main operating account for
Target Roofing.
Q
Now, you opened many accounts for Mr. Crowther; is that
true?
A
Correct.
Q
Okay.  And at this time are all of those accounts -- do
they remain in good standing?
A
They do, um-hum.
MS. WAID:  Thank you.  No further questions.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
(Thereupon, at 2:20 p.m., the cross-examination of 
Kristen DiIorio was concluded.) 
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
CERTIFICATE 
I CERTIFY THAT THE FOREGOING TRANSCRIPT IS A TRUE AND ACCURATE 
TRANSCRIPT FROM THE ORIGINAL STENOGRAPHIC RECORD IN THE 
ABOVE-ENTITLED MATTER. 
 
Dated this 25th day of March, 2021. 
 
 
 
                                     _                       
                                 JEFFREY G. THOMAS, RPR, CRR 
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