Court filing
Jury Trial Transcript — Day 1 (March 28, 2023) — United States v. Bernard Okojie
Summary
A jury trial transcript for the first day of trial, March 28, 2023, in United States of America v. Bernard Okojie, Case No. 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC-1, before the Honorable Lisa Godbey Wood in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, entered as Document 108 and filed April 30, 2023. The 135-page transcript opens with an index listing the court's initial instructions, opening statements by counsel for each side and the examination of three government witnesses, followed by a table of government exhibits. The exhibits identified include numbered loan applications, Rapid Finance application details, PPP loan records, bank records, income tax returns, a loan summary chart and a recorded interview. The session closes with the jury admonition and a recess at 5:18 p.m. The court reporter certifies the transcript on April 26, 2023.
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No. 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC · Doc. 108 · Docket on CourtListener
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Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 1 of 135 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA SAVANNAH DIVISION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ) ) ) CASE NO. ) 4:22-CR-00084-LGW-BWC-1 ) ) ) v. BERNARD OKOJIE, Defendant. JURY TRIAL BEFORE THE HONORABLE LISA GODBEY WOOD March 28, 2023; 1:37 p.m. Brunswick, Georgia APPEARANCES: For the Government: MATTHEW A. JOSEPHSON, Esq. JENNIFER STANLEY, Esq. U. S. Department of Justice United States Attorney's Office P. O. Box 8970 Savannah, Georgia 31401 (912) 652-4422 matthew.josephson@usdoj.gov jennifer.stanley@usdoj.gov For the Defendant: JOHN J. OSSICK, JR., Esq. John J. Ossick, Jr., PC P. O. Box 1087 Kingsland, Georgia 31548-9190 912.729.5864 ossick@tds.net Reported by: Debbie Gilbert, RPR, CCR Official Court Reporter 801 Gloucester Street Post Office Box 1894 Brunswick, GA 31521-1894 (912) 262-2608 or (912) 266-6006 debra_gilbert@gas.uscourts.gov - - - Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 2 of 135 2 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE 3 4 Court's Initial Instructions 8 5 OPENING STATEMENTS 6 7 BY MS. STANLEY BY MR. OSSICK 8 GOVERNMENT WITNESSES 9 10 19 25 SPECIAL AGENT DOUGLAS DYE Direct Examination By Mr. Josephson Cross-Examination By Mr. Ossick Redirect Examination By Mr. Josephson 27 76 77 RAYMOND BROWN Direct Examination By Ms. Stanley 78 SPECIAL AGENT JUSTIN LOTT Direct Examination By Ms. Stanley Cross-Examination By Mr. Ossick Redirect Examination By Ms. Stanley 99 132 134 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 3 of 135 3 1 2 E X H I B I T S GOVERNMENT'S EXHIBITS DESCRIPTION I.D.'d ADMITTED 3 No. 1A Application 3306681576 36 37 4 No. 1B Application 3307024228 36 37 5 No. 1C Application 3312382210 36 37 6 No. 1D Application 3312434980 36 37 7 No. 1E Application 3314740394 36 37 8 No. 1F Application 3314984295 36 37 9 No. 1G Application 3316331403 36 37 10 No. 1H Application 3000191462 36 37 11 No. 1I Application 3000192218 36 37 12 No. 1J Application 3305172885 36 37 13 No. 2A Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3310802890 42 42 No. 2B Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3311060514 42 42 No. 2C Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3311450534 42 42 No. 2D Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3311469966 42 42 No. 2E Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3311504418 42 42 No. 2F Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3311741006 42 42 No. 2G Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 42 42 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 4 of 135 4 1 2 3312674256 No. 2H Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3312974028 42 42 No. 2I Rapid Finance Application Details, Application3312995646 42 42 No. 2J Rapid Finance Application Details, Application 3312589078 42 42 8 No. 3A PPP Loan, Benworth 36 37 9 No. 3B PPP Loan, Kojie9, LLC 36 37 10 No. 3C PPP Loan, B&K Auto 36 37 11 No. 3D PPP Loan, Southern A1 Preservation 36 37 No. 3E PPP Loan, Shekitha Okojie 36 37 No. 4A Bank Records, Regions Bank, B&K Automobile Sales, Inc. 43 44 No. 4B Bank Records, Regions Bank, B&K Freight, LLC 43 44 No. 4C Bank Records, Regions Bank, Bernard Okojie 43 44 No. 4D Bank Records, Regions Bank, Kojie9, LLC 43 44 No. 4E Bank Records, Bank of America, Bernard Okojie 43 44 No. 4F Bank Records, Bank of America, Kojie9, LLC 43 44 No. 4G Bank Records, Synovus Bank, B&K Freight, LLC 43 44 No. 4H Bank Records, Regions Bank, Automobile Loan 43 44 No. 4I Bank Records, First Citizens 43 44 3 4 5 6 7 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 5 of 135 5 1 No. 4J Bank Records, First Citizens Bank 43 44 No. 5A Income Tax Return, 2017, for Bernard and Shekitha L. Okojie 57 58 No. 5B Income Tax Return, 2018, for Bernard and Shekitha L. Okojie 57 58 No. 5C Income Tax Return, 2019, for Bernard and Shekitha L. Okojie 57 58 No. 5D Income Tax Return, 2020, for Bernard and Shekitha L. Okojie 57 58 No. 5E Certification of Lack of Record, Kojie9, LLC 57 58 No. 5F Certification of Lack of Record, B&K Automobile Sale, Inc. 57 58 No. 6 Loan Summary Chart 47 47 No. 7 Georgia Department of labor No Records Certification 69 69 17 No. 8 Okojie Interview Recording 72 73 18 No. 10 Covid 19 Rapid Intake Web Application Form 83 84 No. 11A Bank Records, Ginell Adams 45 45 No. 11B Bank Records, Wanda Adams-Anderson 45 45 No. 11C Bank Records, Princewill Moneme 45 45 No. 11D Bank Records, Katina Banks 45 45 No. 11E Bank Records, Ardell Chatman 45 45 No. 11F Bank Records, Frentres 45 45 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 6 of 135 6 1 Winding 2 No. 11G Bank Records, Lenora Johnson 45 45 3 No. 11H Bank Records, Charlie Bey 45 45 4 No. 12A Bernard Okojie Funded EIDL Application 3000191462 Summary Chart 110 110 No. 12B Bernard Okojie Funded EIDL Application 3000192218 Summary Chart 110 110 No. 12C Bernard Okojie Funded EIDL application 3305172885 Summary Chart 110 110 No. 12D Ginell Adams Funded EIDL Application 3310802809 115 115 No. 12E Wanda Anderson Funded EIDL Application 3311060514 115 115 No. 12F Princewill Moneme Funded EIDL Application 3311450534 115 115 No. 12G Katina Banks Funded EIDL Application 3311469966 115 115 No. 12H Ardell Chatman Funded EIDL Application 3311504418 115 115 No. 12I Frentres Winding Funded EIDL Application 3311741006 115 115 No. 12J Lenora Johnson Funded EIDL Application 3312674256 115 115 No. 12K Charlie Bey Funded EIDL Application 3312974028 115 115 No. 12L Angela Lovelady Funded EIDL Application 3312995646 123 123 No. 13 Records from Versace 126 126 No. 14 Records from Leith, Inc. 127 128 No. 15 Disk Containing Robinhood 130 131 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 7 of 135 7 1 2 Documents No. 16A Text Message to Ben McDonough 32 33 No. 16B Text Message to SBA Ben ATL 32 33 No. 16C Text Messages to SBA Loan Officer 32 33 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 8 of 135 8 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 (Call to order at 1:35 p.m.) 3 THE COURT: Let's bring in the jury. 4 (The jury enters the courtroom.) 5 THE COURT: Good afternoon, members of the jury, and 6 welcome back. 7 we broke, I mentioned to you that now is the time, since you've 8 been sworn, for me to give you some instructions that will guide 9 you in your participation as jurors in this case. 10 I trust you had sufficient time for lunch. When At the end of the trial, I'm going to give you complete 11 instructions that will govern your deliberations and your 12 decisions in the case. 13 It's going to be your duty to find from the evidence 14 what the facts are. You and you alone are going to be judges of 15 the facts. You will then apply those facts to the law as I give 16 it to you. You must follow the law whether you agree with it or 17 not. 18 can determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty of 19 the crimes that are charged in the indictment. It's going to be your duty to decide what happened so you 20 Now nothing that I may say or do during the course of 21 this trial is intended to indicate to you nor should be taken as 22 an indication to you that I think the defendant is either guilty 23 or not guilty of the crimes or it should not indicate to you 24 what your verdict should be. 25 decide. That's for you and you alone to Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 9 of 135 9 1 The evidence from which you will find the facts is going 2 to consist of testimony of witnesses, documents and other items 3 that are admitted into evidence in the case. 4 lawyers agree to or what we call stipulate to, those also will 5 constitute evidence in the case. 6 Any facts that the As I've mentioned, the court reporter is making a 7 complete stenographic record of everything that is said during 8 the trial including the testimony of the witnesses in case it 9 should become necessary at some point in time to produce 10 transcripts but those transcripts if prepared at all will not be 11 available in sufficient time or sufficient format for you to 12 rely on during your deliberations, so you will be required to 13 rely on your own individual and collective memory concerning 14 what the testimony was. 15 On the other hand, any paper or other tangible exhibits 16 received in evidence during the trial will be available for you 17 to study during your deliberations. 18 Now on some occasions during the trial, exhibits may be 19 handed to you for brief inspection. 20 on the overhead screen for you, some on your computer screens in 21 front of you. 22 Some may be displayed here As I mentioned, at the end of the case, you will receive 23 those exhibits for you to hold and look at during your 24 deliberations. 25 Now certain things are not evidence and should not be Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 10 of 135 10 1 considered by you in your deliberation in reaching a verdict. 2 First of all, statements, arguments and questions by lawyers are 3 not evidence. 4 lawyers have an obligation to their clients to make objections 5 when they believe that evidence is being offered improperly 6 under the rules of evidence. 7 objection itself. 8 question, you would just ignore the question. 9 objection, then you will proceed to hear the answer and you 10 would treat that answer like you would any other. Objections to questions are not evidence. Now, Don't be influenced by the If I decide to sustain an objection to a If I overrule an 11 Also if you are ever instructed by me to receive a 12 certain piece of evidence for a limited purpose only, I will let 13 you know what that limited purpose would be and it's important 14 that you follow the instruction and receive that, hear that 15 testimony only for the directed limited purpose. 16 testimony that I have to exclude or tell you to disregard is not 17 evidence and should not be considered by you in reaching your 18 verdict. 19 Obviously any Also as we've mentioned, anything you've heard outside 20 the courtroom, that's not evidence and it should be disregarded. 21 You're to decide the case solely on the basis of the evidence 22 presented here in the courtroom. 23 During the course of the trial, I might occasionally ask 24 a question of a witness. If I do, again it doesn't indicate 25 that I have an opinion about whether that witness is being Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 11 of 135 11 1 truthful or giving false testimony. 2 Indeed, nothing I say during the course of the trial should be 3 taken by you as believing that I have some opinion about the 4 facts of the case. 5 only. 6 That is not what it means. That's irrelevant. It is for you to decide As you've seen during jury selection, from time to time, 7 we may have to interrupt the proceedings to have a brief 8 sidebar. 9 ready to present to you in an orderly fashion. 10 when we necessarily have to confer about a legal application and 11 so forth. 12 and if for some reason we do need to have a more extended one, I 13 would have you placed somewhere more comfortable than in those 14 chairs, but we don't anticipate something like that and it is 15 certainly not our intention to seek it out. 16 As I've explained, we've worked hard to get the case There are times We do endeavor to keep those as limited as possible, There's two kinds of evidence. Some of you who watch 17 certain shows on TV may already know this but there's direct 18 evidence and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence is direct 19 proof of a fact, like an eyewitness. Circumstantial evidence is 20 proof of facts from which you may infer or conclude that other 21 facts exist, and I will give you more detailed instructions 22 about the difference in those two types of evidence at the end 23 of the trial, but for right now, I want you to understand that 24 you are entitled to consider both kinds of evidence, direct and 25 circumstantial. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 12 of 135 12 1 It's going to be up to you to decide which witnesses to 2 believe, which witnesses not to believe and how much of any 3 given witness' testimony to believe or disbelieve. 4 you some guidelines also for determining credibility at the end 5 of the case, but that will be your job to determine which 6 witnesses were credible. 7 As you've heard, this is a criminal case. I'll give There are 8 three basic rules about a criminal case that you must keep in 9 mind. 10 guilty. 11 defendant is only an accusation, nothing more. 12 of guilt or anything else. 13 with a clean slate. 14 First, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven The indictment brought by the Government against the It's not proof The defendant therefore starts out Second, the burden of proof is on the Government until 15 the very end of the case. 16 his innocence or to present any evidence or to testify. 17 since the defendant has the right to remain silent and may 18 choose whether to testify, you cannot legally put any weight on 19 a defendant's choice not to testify. 20 The defendant has no burden to prove And It's not evidence. Third, the Government must prove the defendant's guilt 21 beyond a reasonable doubt. 22 on that point, that standard of proof, at the end of the case, 23 but bear in mind that the level of proof required is quite high. 24 25 I'll give you further instructions Now, in this case, the defendant is alleged to have committed three crimes. The allegations are set forth in the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 13 of 135 13 1 indictment in three counts. Count 1 alleges conspiracy to 2 commit wire and bank fraud in violation of 18 USC Section 1349. 3 And I will give you very detailed instructions about all three 4 of these allegations at the end of the case, and those 5 instructions will be what control your deliberations and 6 decisions, but for now, in order to help you follow the evidence 7 and help you understand what is being presented to you, I want 8 to give you a summary of the elements of the three offenses that 9 the Government must prove to make its case. 10 A defendant can be found guilty of Count 1, conspiracy 11 to commit wire and bank fraud, only if all the following facts 12 are proved beyond a reasonable doubt: 13 people in some way or manner agreed to try to accomplish a 14 shared and unlawful plan to commit wire and bank fraud as 15 charged in the indictment; and, second, that the defendant knew 16 the unlawful purpose of the plan and willfully joined in it. 17 First, that two or more Count 2 alleges wire fraud in violation of 18 USC 18 Section 1343 and 2. A defendant can be found guilty of Count 2, 19 wire fraud, only if all the following facts are proved beyond a 20 reasonable doubt: 21 or participated in a scheme to defraud someone by using false or 22 fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises; second, that 23 the false pretenses, representations or promises were about a 24 material fact; third, that the defendant acted with the intent 25 to defraud; and, finally, that the defendant transmitted or First, that the defendant knowingly devised Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 14 of 135 14 1 caused to be transmitted by wire some communication in 2 interstate commerce to help carry out the scheme to defraud. 3 Count 3 alleges money-laundering conspiracy in violation 4 of federal law. 5 money-laundering conspiracy, only if the following facts are 6 proved beyond a reasonable doubt: 7 people agreed to try to accomplish a common and unlawful plan to 8 commit money laundering; and, second, that the defendant knew 9 about the plan's unlawful purpose and voluntarily joined in it. 10 A defendant can be found guilty of Count 3, First, that two or more Now, those are the allegations. As you recall, the 11 defendant has entered a plea of not guilty denying that he 12 committed any of the crimes alleged in the indictment. 13 Now, a few words about your conduct as jurors. 14 instruct you that during the trial, you are not to discuss the 15 case with anyone or to permit anybody to discuss it with you. 16 Indeed, if somebody tries to discuss the case with you, I'm 17 going to direct you to let the marshal know and they will bring 18 it to my attention. First, I 19 During your service, you can talk about other things, 20 about basketball, the weather, the holidays, anything but not 21 about the case. 22 end of the case, you simply cannot talk about it even with each 23 other. Until you retire to your jury room at the very 24 And when I say you're not permitted to talk about the 25 case, I also mean, for goodness' sakes, you're not allowed to Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 15 of 135 15 1 electronically talk about it. 2 something on Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat or any other 3 electronic way of communicating either. 4 For goodness' sake, don't post Again, some of you probably already experienced this 5 when you contacted your coworkers or families at lunch. Tonight 6 when you go home and every night, if somebody asks you what the 7 case is about, I instruct you specifically to tell them only 8 it's a criminal case, it will be over relatively soon, and once 9 it is, you can talk about it with them. 10 As I've mentioned also, don't read, watch, listen to 11 anything on media including online media about anything to do 12 with the case. 13 kind, and finally don't form an opinion until all the evidence 14 is in and you go back to deliberate and reach a verdict with 15 your colleagues. 16 Don't do any research, the old kind or the new Keep an open mind throughout trial. Our law requires jurors to follow those instructions in 17 order to help ensure a just and fair trial, and the attorneys 18 who have prepared and the parties who are participating are 19 counting on you upholding these key premises of a fair trial. 20 As I said, our law doesn't permit jurors to talk with 21 anybody else because only you have been deemed fair. 22 have taken an oath to be fair. Only you No one else is so qualified. 23 As I have mentioned to you before, we will start at 9:00 24 a.m. every morning and go until mid-morning, take a brief break, 25 go to lunch, eat lunch, come back, go to mid-afternoon, take a Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 16 of 135 16 1 2 brief break and go until about 5:00 or 5:30 in the afternoon. All the rules are grounded in our attempt to make sure 3 things are fair. As you understand, there are consequences if 4 the rules aren't followed, and I trust that all of you will 5 follow them. 6 If you wish, you may take notes during the trial, and I 7 believe the marshal has passed out paper and pens to those who 8 wish to do that. 9 If you do take notes, please keep your notes to yourself 10 until you and your fellow jurors go to the jury room to decide 11 the case. 12 with your actual appreciation of the case. 13 in school tried to write every word down and they missed some of 14 what was going on trying to write everything down, so don't let 15 your note-taking distract you from hearing what's actually 16 happening, and when you leave the courtroom, you should leave 17 your notes in your jury room and the marshal will secure them 18 for you each night and each lunch break. 19 I will caution you not to let note-taking interfere Recall some people Whether or not you take notes, you should rely on your 20 own memory of what was said. Notes are only ever to assist your 21 memory only. 22 actual memory or impression about the testimony, and by all 23 means, don't let somebody else take notes for you. 24 each individual person's wisdom and your collective wisdom in 25 coming up with a just verdict. They are not entitled to greater weight than your We rely upon Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 17 of 135 17 1 Now, in just a moment, the actual trial part is about to 2 begin. 3 Counsel for the Government will begin with their opening 4 statement. 5 that party believes that the evidence will show. 6 As you've heard, we will begin with opening statements. An opening statement is simply an outline of what Next, the defense attorney may but does not have to make 7 an opening statement. 8 neither evidence nor argument. 9 you a roadmap of what you might hear. 10 Recall also that opening statements are They are just designed to give After opening statements, the Government will present 11 its witnesses, one at a time. For each witness, they will 12 conduct a direct examination and then the Defense will have the 13 opportunity to cross-examine each witness. 14 cross-examination of that witness, the Government will be given 15 an opportunity to conduct a brief redirect of each witness. After 16 Once all of the government witnesses have been 17 presented, the defendant may, if he wishes but does not have to, 18 present witnesses. 19 can cross-examine and then I will allow brief redirect. 20 They will do direct. Then the Government After all the evidence is in, the attorneys will present 21 their closing arguments to you. 22 party's attempt to summarize and interpret what they believe the 23 evidence has shown. 24 25 Closing arguments are each After the arguments are made, then I will instruct you on the law and you will at last retire to your jury room to Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 18 of 135 18 1 2 reach your verdict. Counsel for the United States, if you will bring any 3 witnesses that you have present in the courtroom forward. 4 you have any witnesses? 5 MR. JOSEPHSON: 6 THE COURT: 7 Do We do, Your Honor. If you will bring all of those, I am going to invoke the rule of sequestration. 8 MR. JOSEPHSON: Yes, Your Honor. 9 THE COURT: 10 the well of the courtroom. If you will have all of them come forward to 11 Are these your two case agents? 12 MR. JOSEPHSON: 13 THE COURT: 14 MR. JOSEPHSON: 15 THE COURT: Yes, Your Honor. Is there someone outside? No, Your Honor. The Court has invoked the rule of procedure 16 that requires all of the witnesses to remain outside of the 17 courtroom until you're called to testify. 18 outside the courtroom you're not to discuss your testimony with 19 anyone or allow anyone to discuss it with you. 20 however, discuss your testimony with counsel for either side but 21 not in earshot of other witnesses. 22 Indeed while you're You may, After you've testified, the same rule applies: No 23 discussing your testimony in earshot of others. Counsel for 24 both parties are instructed to let all of their witnesses know 25 that The Court has invoked this rule. Failure to comply with Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 19 of 135 19 1 the rule would expose someone not only to contempt of court but 2 exclusion as a witness from the case; understand? 3 THE WITNESSES: 4 THE COURT: 5 6 7 8 9 Yes, Your Honor. Ms. Sharp, if you'll take the names and administer the oath. SPECIAL AGENT JUSTIN LOTT: I am Special Agent Justin Lott with the SBA OIG. SPECIAL AGENT DOUGLAS DYE: Special Agent Douglas Dye, FBI, Atlanta Division. 10 (Witnesses sworn.) 11 THE CLERK: Thank you. 12 THE COURT: The rule does not apply to case agents or 13 the defendant. They may stay during the balance of the trial. 14 With that, gentlemen, if you will return to your seat. 15 Josephson, who will give the opening for the United States? And Mr. 16 MR. JOSEPHSON: 17 THE COURT: 18 and present your opening. 19 opening statements are neither evidence nor argument, but they 20 are provided as a roadmap, and you should give them your full 21 attention. 22 23 24 25 Ms. Stanley, Your Honor. Ms. Stanley, if you will approach the podium MS. STANLEY: And remember, members of the jury, May it please The Court, good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the jury. This is a case about greed and deception. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the defendant, Bernard Okojie, applied Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 20 of 135 20 1 for at least 24 fraudulent loans from the United States 2 Government. 3 went out the door into the pockets of Mr. Okojie and others who 4 should never have gotten that money. 5 about. 6 As a result, more than 1.4 million taxpayer dollars That's what this case is But first, ladies and gentlemen, let's go back to 2020 7 when the COVID-19 pandemic started. 8 country were forced to suddenly shut down. 9 impossible financial decisions. 10 Government decided to give them loans to help keep the lights 11 on, to pay workers, to keep the economy going, but for many 12 small businesses, this wasn't enough. 13 Businesses across the They were facing To help these businesses, the As you all know, many businesses had to permanently 14 close down because of the pandemic and they may never open their 15 doors again, but in March of 2020, the federal government wanted 16 to give these businesses a fighting chance, so it passed a law 17 called the CARES Act. 18 The CARES Act authorized federal funds of relief related 19 to the pandemic, but what is important for us is that the CARES 20 Act allocated funds for two kinds of business loans. 21 The first kind is Economic Injury Disaster Loans. 22 You're going to hear the attorneys and the witnesses talk about 23 E-I-D-L, or EIDL, and that's what those initials refer to, 24 Economic Injury Disaster Loans. 25 The second kind is Payroll Protection Program loans. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 21 of 135 21 1 You're going to hear the attorneys and the witnesses refer to 2 these as PPP loans. 3 To get an EIDL or a PPP loan, you had to fill out an 4 application. You had to enter basic information about your 5 business, the business name, what kind of business it was, how 6 much money the businesses had been making, its expenses, the 7 number of employees and so on. 8 Between June of 2020 and April of 2021, the defendant, 9 Bernard Okojie, completed at least 24 of these applications for 10 himself and for others. 11 Here's how the scheme worked. Clients who heard about 12 Mr. Okojie through word of mouth would give him their basic 13 personal information, like their name, their date of birth, 14 their social security number and their bank account information. 15 Okojie would fill out a loan application using the 16 client's information for a business that did not exist. 17 would make up fake numbers for how many employees the business 18 had, how much money it was making and what its expenses were. 19 He Okojie would submit that application to the Small 20 Business Administration. 21 application was approved, Okojie's clients would log onto the 22 SBA Web site using a password Okojie had created and digitally 23 sign multiple documents like the loan agreement and the 24 promissory note in order to get the money. 25 In most cases, when that loan Remember that these client, not Mr. Okojie, signed those Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 22 of 135 22 1 documents. When a client's loan application was granted and the 2 money had been deposited into their bank account, that client 3 would meet Okojie in person to give him his fee. 4 always a percentage of the loan amount, something like 15 or 20 5 percent. That fee was 6 The clients would make these checks payable to B&K 7 Freight, LLC or Kojie9, LLC, and you will hear those names 8 throughout this trial. 9 In some cases, Mr. Okojie had the client put something 10 like "for truck leasing" on the memo line of that check. 11 course, his clients knew very well that that money was not for 12 trucking fees. 13 Of Mr. Okojie deposited those checks into a bank account in 14 the names of those two businesses, B&K Freight and Kojie9, and 15 Mr. Okojie also applied for no less than 12 loans on behalf of 16 himself and businesses he claimed to own, including a plumbing 17 company, a health services company and a trucking business. 18 He was successful in getting several of those loans. 19 And just to be clear, ladies and gentlemen, there were 20 businesses that should have been able to get EIDL and PPP loans 21 that did not get those loans because the money for the programs 22 ran out. 23 So Mr. Okojie lined his pockets with tax dollars while 24 real businesses were left to struggle through the pandemic. Mr. 25 Okojie did several different things with the money that he stole Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 23 of 135 23 1 from the Government. He used it to buy a Mercedes and clothing 2 and accessories from Versace. 3 investments. 4 avoid the reporting requirements that are triggered when someone 5 withdraws $10,000.00 or more from the bank, and he tried to take 6 nearly $40,000.00 of it in cash with him on a plane from Atlanta 7 to Nigeria without declaring that money as federal law requires. 8 Throughout this trial you're going to hear from numerous He used some of it for personal He withdrew $9,000.00 or $9500.00 at a time to 9 witnesses. You're going to hear from the law enforcement agents 10 who conducted this investigation. 11 financial analysts who will tell you about the illegal 12 transactions that took place. 13 individuals who participated in the fraud and received 14 fraudulent loans, you will learn that some of those people knew 15 each other and some of them didn't. 16 in common. 17 the defendant. You're going to hear from the You're going to hear from But they all had one thing They all got fraudulent loans with the assistance of 18 Now the Judge has already talked to you a little bit 19 about the indictment and the law, but let me talk to you just 20 briefly about those things and the law that Mr. Okojie is 21 alleged to have violated. 22 In general, Mr. Okojie is charged with committing three 23 crimes, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one stand-alone count 24 of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 25 Count 1, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, you may think Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 24 of 135 24 1 of big, elaborate schemes when you think of conspiracy, but 2 under the law, a conspiracy is just an agreement or plan between 3 at least two people to do something unlawful, and that plan 4 doesn't have to be written or verbal. 5 people act. 6 You can find it from how Here Mr. Okojie is charged with conspiring with at least 7 one other person to commit wire fraud. 8 term for lies to get money, and wire fraud is simply using an 9 electronic can communication as part of that lie. 10 "Fraud" is just a legal Count 1 basically alleges that Mr. Okojie and his 11 clients carried out a plan to fraudulently obtain SBA loans. 12 Mr. Okojie couldn't have carried out his scheme without his 13 clients, and they couldn't have gotten this loan money without 14 Mr. Okojie. 15 Mr. Okojie's clients got hundreds of thousands of 16 dollars of taxpayer money, and then Mr. Okojie skimmed his cut 17 off the top. 18 Count 2 is one stand-alone count of wire fraud. It 19 concerns one false loan application that the defendant filed out 20 on behalf of an individual named Katina Banks. 21 Count 3 alleges a conspiracy to commit money laundering. 22 Money laundering is simply a legal term that means that someone 23 is trying to hide the money made from a crime. 24 is fraud. 25 Here that crime Mr. Okojie is charged with conspiring to hide the money Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 25 of 135 25 1 he got as a result of this scheme, and you'll hear that he did 2 that through the kickback checks he got back from his clients. 3 Again, this case is not complicated, it is about greed 4 and deception. Mr. Okojie lied to the Government. He lied to 5 the Government during the middle of a devastating pandemic. 6 You're going to hear that he carried out a massive 7 scheme with lots of people. 8 million in taxpayer dollars that did not belong to him, and as a 9 result of that scheme, he received tens of thousands in 10 kickbacks. 11 He did so to take more than 1.4 After you hear all the evidence, Mr. Josephson will 12 return to this podium to discuss the case. He will review the 13 evidence that you have heard, and the Government will ask you to 14 hold Mr. Okojie accountable for what he's done and find him 15 guilty of conspiracy and fraud. Thank you. 16 THE COURT: Mr. Ossick on behalf of the defendant. 17 MR. OSSICK: Please The Court. 18 you this afternoon. 19 Camden County. 20 I'll be very brief with My name is John Ossick. I practice in At this point I think The Court described as well as Ms. 21 Stanley described the basic charges in the indictment, and in 22 Counts 1 and 3 talk about each requires an agreement and this 23 unlawful plan to try with someone other than Mr. Okojie. 24 I think you're going to see that in the indictment, 25 which is the way the Government brought the case here today, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 26 of 135 26 1 they chose not to name who that was. 2 along. 3 So we will see as we go But I think we're also going to see as we go along that 4 we have a number of witnesses who you can determine from the 5 evidence have concerns on what their own actions were throughout 6 any of these events, these other people who are alleged to be 7 part of the agreements, and yet those concerns can affect what 8 sort of trustworthiness you should place on what they say and is 9 an appropriate, as The Court will tell you later, factor for you 10 to consider on whether or not the Government has met its burden 11 that it has in this matter. 12 Thank you. 13 THE COURT: 14 MR. JOSEPHSON: 15 16 17 18 Mr. Josephson, call your first witness. The Government calls FBI Special Agent Douglas Dye. THE CLERK: Sir, you were previously sworn. Do you still uphold that oath? THE WITNESS: 19 Yes, ma'am. SPECIAL AGENT DOUGLAS DYE, 20 having been previously duly sworn, was examined and testified 21 as follows: 22 23 24 25 THE CLERK: State your full name and spell your last and state your occupation and your business address. THE WITNESS: Douglas Dye, D-y-e, special agent for the FBI, Atlanta Division, Savannah Resident Agency located at 2003 Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 27 of 135 27 1 Chatham Center Drive, Savannah, Georgia. 2 DIRECT EXAMINATION 3 BY MR. JOSEPHSON: 4 Q. 5 of Investigation? 6 A. 14 years. 7 Q. Can you tell the jury just in general what your 8 responsibility is as an FBI agent? 9 A. 10 criminal cases, working violations such as financial crimes, 11 crimes against children, violent crimes, terrorism, national 12 security and fraud. 13 Q. 14 become an FBI agent? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. What are some of the programs you have to complete? 17 A. You go to initial new agent training at Quantico, 18 Virginia. 19 back for multiple in-services annually to do continuing 20 education. 21 Q. 22 you investigate financial crimes committed against government 23 programs? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. Do those programs include programs that were intended to Agent Dye, how long have you worked for the Federal Bureau Responsibility as an FBI agent is primarily to work Do you have to complete training programs in order to It's approximately six months long and then you come You mentioned that you investigate financial crimes. Do Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 28 of 135 28 1 address the effects of COVID-19? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Are you one of the lead agents that led to the charges in 4 this case against the defendant, Bernard Okojie? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. Generally speaking, does this case concern allegations 7 that the defendant filed false and fraudulent COVID-19 loans? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. I want to start by asking you some preliminary questions 10 about the CARES Act. 11 the CARES Act? 12 A. 13 Act that was -- that was enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic 14 for emergency financial assistance, and part of that program had 15 the Small Business Administration programs previously mentioned, 16 the Economic Impact -- Economic Injury Disaster Loan and the 17 Paycheck Protection Program, PPP loan. 18 Could you tell the jury generally what is CARES Act is the Coronavirus Aid Relief Economic Security The PPP loan was funded by the federal government and 19 administrated by financial institutions and the EIDL loan was 20 funded and administered by the SBA. 21 Q. 22 as EIDLs; is that right? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. And Paycheck Protection Program often referred to by the 25 acronym PPP? So Economic Injury Disaster Loans are commonly referred to Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 29 of 135 29 1 A. Correct. 2 Q. What are some of the key factors that the Government 3 considers to determine how much money a loan applicant should 4 get in the PPP program and the EIDL program? 5 A. 6 existence prior to the 12-month period to the pandemic, that 7 they look at the gross revenue, the cost of goods sold, the 8 number of employees. 9 Q. 10 have to own a real business? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Can you just make one up to get a loan? 13 A. No. 14 Q. Can you make up gross revenue amounts to get more money? 15 A. No. 16 Q. Can you make up employees that don't exist to get more 17 money? 18 A. No. 19 Q. Can you, once you get the money, can you just spend it 20 however you want? 21 A. No. 22 Q. All right. 23 broadly. 24 applications that the defendant, Bernard Okojie, submitted? 25 A. Some of the key factors are that the company was in To qualify for a PPP loan or an EIDL loan, does somebody There are program guidelines. I want to talk about this investigation What did you learn regarding the PPP and EIDL Through investigative techniques, interviews, examining Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 30 of 135 30 1 financial records, open source information, tax records as well 2 as analysis, we learned that they contained fraudulent 3 information. 4 Q. 5 revenues on the applications? 6 A. 7 fraudulent. 8 Q. 9 business or industry that was listed on the applications? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. What did you see? 12 A. Saw a myriad of companies listed such as health services, 13 transportation, automobile sales, construction and contractors. 14 Q. 15 applications represented that Mr. Okojie operated those 16 businesses at the same time? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Did you notice any connections between the defendant and 19 the applications that were submitted in the names of other 20 people? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. What did you notice? 23 A. Well, through -- again, through analyzing financial 24 reports and interviews and other records, we noticed that there 25 were checks paid from the clients to Bernard Okojie. Did you notice anything suspicious with respect to gross Yes. The gross revenue was inflated. It was incorrect, Did you notice anything suspicious with the type of Was it notable to you or suspicious to you that the We also Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 31 of 135 31 1 noticed similarities in the way they were submitted, 2 specifically IP address that was used on some of them that was 3 common. 4 Q. 5 defendant through the loan applications? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. Did they tell you anything that caused you to investigate 8 further? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. What did they tell you? 11 A. They told me -- Did you interview the people that were connected to the 12 MR. OSSICK: Objection, Your Honor, as to hearsay. 13 THE COURT: Sustained. 14 Q. (By Mr. Josephson) 15 substance of the interviews, did any of the people you 16 interviewed provide text messages? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Did the text messages, what did they generally portray? 19 A. Conversations between the client and Bernard Okojie. 20 Q. Did those conversations take place during the loan 21 application process? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Did you obtain copies of those conversations directly from 24 the person and their phone? 25 A. Yes. Without telling me about any of the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 32 of 135 32 1 Q. And did you alter those text messages in any way -- 2 A. No. 3 Q. -- when you received them? 4 evidence file as a part of this case? 5 A. Yes, they were included in the 302, FT302. 6 Q. I'd like to display for the witness, Ms. Roper, and I can 7 say for the record, Ms. Roper is a legal assistant in the US 8 Attorney's Office, and so I will be asking her to assist me in 9 displaying certain records. 10 Did you put those into your Ms. Roper, could you display for the witness what's been 11 marked for identification Government Exhibit 16A, then 16B, and 12 then show 16C. 13 THE CLERK: Judge, I can not show the jury from their 14 monitors, but with the projectors, I can't mute that if she 15 pulls it up with her computer on the projector, so I need to 16 power that off or if you have a paper you can -- 17 MR. JOSEPHSON: 18 of displaying it to the witness. 19 THE CLERK: I'm fine powering that off for purposes We do have paper. It will take me just a minute to do that. 20 Q. (By Mr. Josephson) Mrs. Roper, if you could display for 21 the witness Government Exhibit 16A. 22 MR. OSSICK: May I inquire how it would be listed here? 23 THE COURT: Counsel, proceed. 24 Q. (By Mr. Josephson) Agent Dye, have you had a chance to 25 look through Government Exhibit 16A, 16B and 16C as displayed? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 33 of 135 33 1 A. Yes, I see one image right now. 2 Q. Ms. Roper, could you also display 16B for the witness and 3 16C. 4 A. Yes, I have reviewed A, B and C, 16A, B and C. 5 Q. Do you recognize these text messages? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. What are they? 8 A. They are text messages from Princewill Moneme and Bernard 9 Okojie, Katina Banks and Bernard Okojie and Angela Lovelady and 10 Bernard Okojie. 11 Q. 12 the defendant? 13 A. Did these individuals receive loans with the assistance of Yes. 14 MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, at this time we would move 15 to enter Government Exhibit 16A, 16B and 16C and seek permission 16 to publish to the jury. 17 THE COURT: Any objection? 18 MR. OSSICK: No objection. 19 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. 20 MR. JOSEPHSON: Publish? Yes, please publish for the jury. 21 Government Exhibit 16B, please, Ms. Roper. And if we could zoom 22 in on that text message to bring it up just to make it a little 23 bit bigger. 24 bigger. 25 Q. Could you zoom in on the text message to make it (By Mr. Josephson) Agent Dye, could you read what is on Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 34 of 135 34 1 the screen there in that text message? 2 A. 3 Banks. 4 day for all day. 5 your information anymore but you can log in yourself and see and 6 I am also positive I used sole proprietor I used to apply for 7 you. 8 when I was doing the loan. 9 put your e-mail as user name. 10 654321Ab. 11 will see the information you're asking about." 12 Q. 13 This was a text message from Bernard Okojie to Katina "Hey beautiful sorry delayed response, been a very busy I can't really remember because I don't have Go back to the e-mail where they said create an account Click on it, where it says log in Then used this as password, It should take you into your account and there you Ms. Roper, can you zoom back out? Agent Dye, at the top of the text message, what does it 14 say in that top line there beginning "SBA"? 15 A. "SBA Ben ATL." 16 Q. Is that how the defendant was identified in this 17 particular individual's phone? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. What is the password that is listed in this text message 20 that you just read? 21 A. 654321Ab. 22 Q. Ms. Roper, could you display 16C for the witness and the 23 jury. 24 25 Agent Dye, could you read the text message starting with "once you get"? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 35 of 135 35 1 A. "Once you get the e-mail saying to create an account click 2 on it and create the account. 3 Once you finish, log out." 4 Q. 5 you read that? 6 A. "SBA Loan Officer." 7 Q. Is that how the defendant was identified in this person's 8 phone? 9 A. 10 Bernard Okojie. 11 Q. 12 text message? 13 A. 654321Ab. 14 Q. Have you encountered this password in any other aspects of 15 this investigation? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Where have you seen this password? 18 A. On a notebook. 19 Q. And where was that notebook obtained? 20 A. It was obtained at the Hartsfield-Jackson International 21 Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. 22 Q. From whom? 23 A. Customs and Border Protection. 24 Q. From whom was it taken? 25 A. Bernard Okojie. Use this for password, 654321Ab. At the top of the text message beginning with "SBA," could Yes, this was a text message between Angela Lovelady and Could you read out again the password in the body of this Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 36 of 135 36 1 Q. I want to ask you some questions -- Ms. Roper, you can 2 pull up the text message? 3 I want to ask you some questions about the loan 4 applications that were filed in the defendant's name or in a 5 business name associated with the defendant. 6 Did you obtain certified copies of the loan applications 7 that were filed in the defendant's name or a business associated 8 with him? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Specifically, have you had the opportunity to review 11 Government Exhibit 1A through 1J and Government Exhibit 3A 12 through 3E prior to the trial today? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. And could you describe generally for the jury what the 15 files in Government Exhibit 1A through 1J and 3A through 3E are? 16 A. They are loan application files. 17 Q. And are they associated with anyone in particular? 18 A. Bernard Okojie. 19 Q. And were they filed in his name or the business or in a 20 business associated with him? 21 A. 22 His name and businesses associated with him. MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, these loan files have been 23 noticed under a Federal Rule of Evidence 902. 24 have been provided. 25 There's been no objection. Certifications We've provided notice to the Defense. We would move to enter them as Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 37 of 135 37 1 self-authenticating. 2 THE COURT: Call out the numbers, please. 3 MR. JOSEPHSON: Yes, Your Honor. We're going to enter 4 1A, the EIDL loan file ending in 1576, Bernard; 1B, the EIDL 5 loan file ending in 4228, Kojie9; 1C, the EIDL loan file ending 6 in 2210, Kojie9; 1D, the EIDL loan file ending in 4980 Kojie9, 7 1E, the EIDL loan file ending in 0394 B&K; 1F, the EIDL loan 8 file ending in 4296, Kojie9; 1G, the EIDL loan file ending in 9 1403, B&K; 1H, the EIDL loan file ending in 1462, B&K; 1I, the 10 EIDL loan file ending in 2218, Kojie9; 1J, the EIDL loan file 11 ending in 2885, Bernard. 12 We also at this time are entering Government Exhibits 3A 13 through 3E. 3A is the PPP loan file, Benworth, Bernard Okojie; 14 3B is the PPP loan file, Regions, Kojie9, LLC; 3C is the PPP 15 loan file, Regions, B&K Auto; 3D is the PPP loan file, Synovus, 16 Southern A1 Preservation; 3E is the PPP loan file, Harvest, 17 Shekitha Okojie. 18 exhibit as self-authenticating at this time. Those are the loan files we are seeking to 19 THE COURT: And Mr. Ossick, any objections? 20 MR. OSSICK: None, Your Honor. 21 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. (By Mr. Josephson) Proceed. 22 Q. Agent Dye, did the defendant's loan 23 applications include his personal information on them? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. Mrs. Roper, can you please display for the witness and the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 38 of 135 38 1 jury Government Exhibit 1H. 2 Agent Dye, do you recognize this type of application? 3 A. Yes, it is an EIDL application. 4 Q. And, Ms. Roper, could we zoom in on the general company 5 information listed at the top, that entire column, yes. 6 What is the legal name of the company here? 7 A. B&K Freight, LLC. 8 Q. And what is the full business address? 9 A. 617 Addison Way, McDonough, Georgia 30253. 10 Q. Thank you. 11 on the primary contact information at the bottom. 12 Ms. Roper, please zoom out and can we zoom in Agent Dye, what is the name on this application? 13 A. Bernard Okojie. 14 Q. And what is the address for the primary contact? 15 A. 325 Mango Court, McDonough, Georgia 30253. 16 Q. And what is the name of the primary, the primary contact 17 position, what is that? 18 A. Owner. 19 Q. Can we zoom out, Ms. Roper, and can we scroll down to 1H3, 20 Page 3. 21 there all the way at the bottom, the contact, Number 1, yes, 22 ma'am. 23 Can you zoom in on the contact block at the bottom What is the name in the contact information here, Agent 24 Dye? 25 A. Bernard Okojie. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 39 of 135 39 1 Q. And based on your familiarity with the defendant's 2 personal information, can you identify that that is his social 3 security number? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Can you identify that that is his birth date? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. And what is his place of birth? 8 A. Nigeria. 9 Q. And is he listed as a US citizen? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. For some of the loan applications, did the defendant 12 submit a photo of himself and his driver's license? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Can you please display Government's Exhibit 3A64? 15 zoom in on the two photos in the middle of this document. 16 Agent Dye, what are these photos showing here? Can we 17 A. Top one is a photo of a government-issued driver's license 18 for Bernard Okojie and the second one is a selfie of Bernard 19 Okojie. 20 Q. 21 the defendant looks like? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. And is he here today in this courtroom? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. Could you point him out for the record. Based on your investigation in this case, do you know what Just describe Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 40 of 135 40 1 generally what he's wearing? 2 A. A white suit. 3 Q. In addition to the loan files that the defendant filed in 4 his own name or his purported business name, did he file or 5 assist with the filing of applications for other people? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. How did you identify those people? 8 A. We identified them through investigative activity, 9 including interviews, financial analysis. 10 Q. Did you review any financial records in this case? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. What did you learn from the financial records? 13 A. We saw payments from the clients to Bernard Okojie on 14 financial records. 15 Q. 16 loan applications? 17 A. 18 SBA loans. 19 Q. 20 Generally speaking, what were the amounts? 21 fairly large? 22 A. Large. 23 Q. Did you notice anything with respect to the amounts of 24 money they paid him and percentages of the loans in the 25 applications? Were you able to match any financial records to particular Yes. The client's names that paid Bernard Okojie, we had You mentioned that you saw payments to the defendant. Were they small, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 41 of 135 41 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. What did you see? 3 A. They were approximately 10 to 20 percent of the loan 4 amount approved. 5 Q. 6 payment was connected to the loan? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. What did it suggest to you? 9 A. That it was a payment related to the loan. 10 Q. What is an IP address? 11 A. It's an Internet protocol address. 12 number for the handshake of a device connecting to the Internet. 13 Q. 14 associated with the loan applications you reviewed in this case? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. What did you notice with respect to IP addresses? 17 A. We noticed that on some of the EIDL applications for 18 Bernard Okojie and his companies, as well as some of the ones 19 for his clients on the DocuSign document, the IP had a similar 20 IP address, had the same IP address on some of them. 21 Q. 22 received assistance from the defendant? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. Are these people who paid money to the defendant for 25 preparing the loan file? Did that suggest anything to you regarding whether the It's like a serial Was there anything notable regarding the IP addresses Have you reviewed the actual loan files of the people who Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 42 of 135 42 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Prior to today, have you reviewed Government Exhibit 2A 3 through 2J? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Are those documents the loan files of individuals who 6 received assistance from the defendant in submitting a loan 7 application? 8 A. 9 Yes. MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, we would move to admit 2A 10 through 2J as self-authenticating under 902. We have provided 11 certifications and notice of those certifications to the Defense 12 prior to today and move to admit them now. 13 THE COURT: Any objection? 14 MR. OSSICK: Could you give me the numbers again. 15 THE COURT: It's 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 2I and 17 MR. OSSICK: No objection. 18 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. 19 MR. JOSEPHSON: 16 2J. Yes, Your Honor, for the record would 20 you like me to read the actual exhibit number or the title of 21 the exhibit? 22 THE COURT: You can read the name of the person 23 associated with each. 24 MR. JOSEPHSON: 25 Yes, Your Honor, 2A is Ginell Adams; 2B, Wanda Anderson; 2C, Princewill Moneme; 2D, Katina Banks; 2E, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 43 of 135 43 1 Ardell Chatman; 2F, Frentres Winding; 2G, Lenora Johnson; 2H, 2 Charlie Bey; 2I, Inspired By a Lovelady; 2J, Kojie8, LLC. 3 are the filings for 2A through 2J. 4 Q. 5 records. 6 analyze those records? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. What records did you and others analyze? 9 A. We analyzed financial institution records as well as IRS 10 and Department of Revenue records. 11 Q. Who did these records belong to? 12 A. They belonged to Bernard Okojie and his clients. 13 Q. And by clients, do you mean people who paid him to assist 14 with filing the loan? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Have you had an opportunity to review Government Exhibit 17 4A through 4I? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Generally speaking, what are those exhibits? 20 A. They are the financial institution records. 21 Q. And do they belong to the defendant? 22 A. Yes. 23 (By Mr. Josephson) Those Agent Dye, you mentioned financial Did you and other members of the investigative team MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, we have provided notice of 24 these records. They are certified copies. We provided the 25 certifications to the Defense prior to today. We do move to Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 44 of 135 44 1 admit them as self-authenticating under 902. 2 THE COURT: Any objection, Mr. Ossick? 3 MR. OSSICK: No, Your Honor. 4 THE COURT: All right, admitted without objection. 5 MR. JOSEPHSON: For the record, Your Honor, 4A are the 6 bank records from Regions Bank ending in 4304; 4B are the bank 7 records from Regions ending in 4728; 4C are the bank records 8 from Regions ending in 6930; 4D are the bank records from 9 Regions ending in 4752; 4E are the bank records from Bank of 10 America ending in 4329; 4F are the bank records from Bank of 11 America ending in 3812; 4G are the bank records from Synovus 12 ending in 7575; 4H are the bank records regarding a Regions car 13 loan; and 4I are loans from First Citizens, ending in 3160 and 14 7009. 15 Q. 16 financial records. 17 information, did they contain to the investigation? 18 A. 19 biographical information and historical data information for 20 transactions. 21 Q. 22 defendant's accounts? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. Did the records show withdrawals of the money as well? 25 A. Yes. (By Mr. Josephson) Agent Dye, I listed off a lot of What types of information, relevant They contained just deposits and credits. They contained Did the records show loan money coming into the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 45 of 135 45 1 Q. Did the records also show deposits of checks from other 2 people? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. Have you and others on the investigative team had an 5 opportunity to analyze the financial records of people who had 6 loan applications who had the assistance of the defendant to 7 fill out loan applications? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Are you generally familiar with Government Exhibit 11A 10 through 11H? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Are these the financial records of people who had loans 13 prepared by the defendant? 14 A. Yes. 15 MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, these records like the 16 others are self-authenticating under Federal Rules of Evidence 17 902. 18 objection. 19 records. We have provided certifications. There's been no We move to admit them now as self-authenticating 20 THE COURT: Mr. Ossick? 21 MR. OSSICK: No objection. 22 THE COURT: 11A through H inclusive are admitted without 23 objection. 24 Q. 25 into evidence a fair amount of records just now, loan records of (By Mr. Josephson) All right, Agent Dye, we have entered Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 46 of 135 46 1 the defendant, financial records of the defendant, loan records 2 of people who had applications prepared by the defendant as well 3 as those individuals' financial records. 4 Are all of these documents voluminous? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. They are high in number? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Do they concern a large amount of information? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Do they involve numerous people? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Would a summary chart help condense that information and 13 convey it in a convenient fashion for the jury? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. And would that eliminate the need to go through boxes and 16 boxes of financial records and loan records? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Have you and others on the investigative team prepared 19 that kind of chart? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Is it your understanding that the records underlying, the 22 underlying records for this chart were provided to the Defense 23 in this case? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. Is the chart that you and others have prepared accurate? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 47 of 135 47 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. The information was taken from actual loan records and 3 financial records and placed into the chart? 4 A. 5 Yes. MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, the Government would move 6 to -- 7 Q. 8 Dye, have you reviewed Government Exhibit 6 prior to today? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. And is that the exhibit that you've just described, the 11 summary exhibit? 12 A. 13 (By Mr. Josephson) Actually before I move to admit, Agent Yes. MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, we would move to admit 14 Government Exhibit 6 at this time. 15 admissible under Rule 1006. 16 permission to publish for the jury. This is a summary chart We move to admit and seek 17 THE COURT: Any objection, Mr. Ossick? 18 MR. OSSICK: No objection. 19 THE COURT: Admitted without objection and you may 20 proceed to publish. 21 MR. JOSEPHSON: Ms. Roper, please publish Government 22 Exhibit 6 for the jury and the witness. 23 the first column, "Applicant," all the way down. 24 Q. 25 the specific numbers, could you tell the jury who is listed here (By Mr. Josephson) If we could zoom in on Agent Dye, before we get into some of Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 48 of 135 48 1 in the "Applicant" column? 2 A. The applicant, read the names? 3 Q. Yeah. 4 in the top section there? 5 A. 6 Ardell Chatman, Lenora Johnson, Princewill Moneme, Frentres 7 Winding, Angela Lovelady. 8 Q. Who are these nine people? 9 A. They are people that Bernard Okojie completed loan 10 applications for. 11 Q. 12 part of this chart here? 13 A. 14 Okojie; Kojie9, LLC; Kojie9 Home Care, LLC; Kojie9 Plumbing 15 Service, LLC; B&K Automobile Sale, Inc.; Kojie9, LLC; B&K 16 Freight, LLC; Bernard Okojie, PPP; Kojie9, LLC, PPP; Shekitha 17 Okojie, PPP; Southern A1 Preservation, LLC, PPP; Kojie8, LLC. 18 Q. Who were these 15 people or entities? 19 A. These are business, businesses or people or family members 20 associated with Bernard Okojie. 21 Q. 22 there a loan application submitted? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. Is that an application that you and others in the 25 investigative team reviewed? Let's start at the top. Who are the people listed Katina Banks, Ginell Adams, Wanda Anderson, Charlie Bey, Could you read out the applicants listed on the bottom B&K Freight, LLC; Kojie9, LLC; Bernard Okojie; Bernard For each person or business listed on this column, was Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 49 of 135 49 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Ms. Roper, can we zoom back out to the full chart in 3 Government 6? 4 "Business Activity or Industry." 5 And can we zoom in on the column that says Agent Dye, what generally does this column show? 6 A. It shows the business activity or industry indicated on 7 the loan application. 8 Q. 9 their business in order to get a loan? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. And are these the types of industries or businesses that 12 were listed on the defendant's loan or the loans of people that 13 he assisted? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Do the industries and businesses listed here vary pretty 16 widely? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Could you give some examples of what's listed here? 19 A. Health services, health services, health services, 20 construction and contractors, construction and contractors, 21 health services, construction and contractors, construction and 22 contractors, health services, transportation, freight, business 23 services, automobile sales and gas service station, 24 transportation, health services, construction and contractors, 25 automotive sales and gas service station, freight, freight, food Was an applicant required to explain the general nature of Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 50 of 135 50 1 services, trucking, food services, real estate/property 2 management, health services. 3 Q. 4 businesses the ones listed at the bottom of this chart? 5 A. Yes, the second section. 6 Q. Does this mean that on the applications the defendant 7 claimed to operate all of these types of businesses at the same 8 time? 9 A. Yes, himself or his family members. 10 Q. So the representation, was the representation on all of 11 these applications that the defendant or family member operated 12 a transportation business, a freight business, a business 13 services business, an automotive sales and gas station business, 14 a transportation business, multiple health services businesses, 15 a construction and contractors business, a couple of freight 16 businesses and a food service business, all at the same time? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Was that suspicious to you? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Why is that? 21 A. It's a wide range of activity as well as did not see that 22 type of activity on financial records. 23 Q. 24 zoom in on the "Applicant" column. 25 That's a lot of businesses. Are the defendants' purported Ms. Roper, could we zoom out to Government 6 and could we Agent Dye, how many loan applications total are listed on Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 51 of 135 51 1 this chart? How many names or entities are listed? If you 2 could just count them out? 3 A. 24. 4 Q. 24. 5 Agent Dye, you previously testified that one of the key pieces 6 of information the Government considers to determine the amount 7 of the loan is gross revenues; is that correct? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Can we zoom in on the "Gross Revenue Claimed" column. 10 What is the gross revenue column representing here, Agent Dye? 11 A. 12 months prior to the pandemic, which would be the year 2019. 13 Q. That's what's represented on the application? 14 A. Represented on the application. 15 Q. Let's start on the bottom part of this column. 16 these numbers belong to, whose application? 17 A. 18 with him. 19 Q. 20 claimed to generate in gross revenues on his EIDL applications? 21 A. $2,415,273.00. 22 Q. Is that in one year prior to the pandemic? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. For the other nine people listed at the top, how much 25 money is listed on the applications that they submitted with the Ms. Roper, could we zoom out to Government's 6. That is the gross revenue of the business for the 12 Who does Bernard Okojie or family members or businesses associated And what's the total amount of money that the defendant Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 52 of 135 52 1 assistance of the defendant? 2 A. $2,178,300.00. 3 Q. Ms. Roper, could we zoom out and just encapture the total 4 amount of money of gross revenue claimed, still the gross 5 revenue column, but get the total at the bottom there that was 6 cut off? 7 If you added those two figures together that you just 8 mentioned, what is the total amount of gross revenue that was 9 claimed either by the defendant or on the applications that he 10 assisted with? 11 A. $4,593,573.00. 12 Q. Is that in a one-year period prior to COVID-19? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Ms. Roper, could we zoom back out to Government's 6 and 15 now zoom in on the "Employees Claimed" column. 16 testified that the number of employees was important for the 17 Government to determine the amount of the loan; is that correct? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. What is, let's start at the bottom, the bottom column. 20 What does this column represent? 21 A. 22 businesses associated with him and his family members. 23 Q. Was this the roughly 2019, the one year prior to COVID? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. What is the total number of employees that the defendant Agent Dye, you Employees claimed on the applications by Bernard Okojie or Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 53 of 135 53 1 represented to the United States Government that he employed? 2 A. 3 82. 4 Q. 5 does the top column represent? 6 A. 7 applications for the people that Bernard Okojie submitted 8 applications for. 9 Q. 10 number of employees? 11 A. 50. 12 Q. 50, and what was the total number of people in terms of 13 employees claimed on the defendant's applications in his name, 14 his businesses' names or on the applications submitted in other 15 people's names? 16 A. 132. 17 Q. Can we zoom back out to Government's 6, Ms. Roper, and 18 zoom in on the "Approved Loan Amount" column. 19 are we seeing here in the "Approved Loan Amount" column? 20 A. 21 submitted on the EIDL or PPP loan applications. 22 part is for the people that Bernard Okojie submitted 23 applications for and the lower one is for Bernard Okojie, his 24 businesses or businesses of his family members. 25 Q. Total number that he or businesses or family members is 82 people. At the top there, how many people again, what The top column represents employees claimed on the EIDL What was represented on those applications in terms of Agent Dye, what This is the approved loan amount based on the information For the top How much did the defendant or his family members get in Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 54 of 135 54 1 COVID money? 2 A. For loan, COVID money was $363,283.50. 3 Q. How much did the nine people get who had the assistance of 4 the defendant in filling out their COVID loans? 5 A. $1,089,400.00. 6 Q. What's the total amount of money that the United States 7 Government paid out? 8 A. $1,452,683.50. 9 Q. Can we zoom out on Government's 6, Ms. Roper. 10 were any of the defendant's applications rejected? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Can we zoom in on the "Total Attempted" column, the second 13 one from the right. 14 "Total Attempted" column? 15 A. 16 applications submitted for both the people he submitted 17 applications for, also the ones for himself, businesses that is 18 controlled by him and family members. 19 Q. 20 there? 21 A. $2,633,383.50. 22 Q. Can we zoom back out on Government's 6 and zoom in on the 23 last column there. 24 who paid the defendant to fill out the loan applications? 25 A. Agent Dye, What is represented here, Agent Dye, in the The "Total Attempted" are the total amounts based on all And what is the total attempted amount at the bottom Yes. You mentioned that there were various people Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 55 of 135 55 1 Q. Is that correct? What does this last column represent? 2 A. The last column represents payments made by individuals 3 that Bernard Okojie submitted applications for to Bernard Okojie 4 for completing the loan applications. 5 Q. 6 $14,000.00 all the way up to $30,000.00? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Is that money that was paid by a certain person to fill 9 out a loan application? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. How long does it take to fill out a loan application if 12 you just fill in the numbers without checking or verifying them, 13 approximately? 14 A. Five minutes. 15 Q. Five minutes, and you said how many people are on this 16 chart here? 17 A. There's nine people at the top. 18 Q. So nine applications; is that right? 19 A. Plus one in the bottom. 20 Q. Nine applications, you said it's about five minutes to 21 fill out the application? 22 A. Yes, sir. 23 Q. So if my math is correct, around 45 minutes? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. How much did the defendant get paid to do that? Those figures, do they range from 18 -- I'm sorry, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 56 of 135 56 1 A. $165,935.00. 2 Q. For less than an hour work? 3 A. Correct. 4 Q. You said you reviewed financial records in this case; is 5 that right? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. Those records are entered into evidence, specifically the 8 defendant's financial records are entered into evidence, as 9 Government Exhibits 4A through 4I. 10 records? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Did you see anything in the defendant's financial records 13 that would support the contention that he generated businesses, 14 that he owned businesses that generated hundreds and hundreds of 15 thousands of dollars? 16 A. No. 17 Q. Did you review the financial records of the people who had 18 loan applications, who submitted loan applications with the 19 assistance of the defendant? 20 A. Yeah, some of them. 21 Q. Did you see anything in those financial records that would 22 show those people owned real businesses that grossed a couple 23 hundred thousand dollars a year? 24 A. No. 25 Q. Did you see anything in the financial records that the Have you reviewed those Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 57 of 135 57 1 defendant employed over 50 people? 2 A. No. 3 Q. Did you see anything in the records that the people who 4 got the assistance from the defendant employed multiple people, 5 that each person employed multiple people? 6 A. No. 7 Q. Have you reviewed the defendant's tax return as part of 8 this investigation? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Specifically have you reviewed the tax returns the 11 defendant filed in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. I'd like to show the witness what's been marked for 14 identification as Government Exhibit 5A through 5F. 15 Agent Dye, do you recognize these documents? 16 A. So this is one, okay. 17 Q. Could we display 5, 5B? 18 A. Okay. 19 Q. 5C? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. 5D, 5E and 5F. 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. You recognize these documents? 24 A. Yes, sir. 25 Q. What are they? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 58 of 135 58 1 A. They are tax documents for 2017, 2018, '19 and '20 as well 2 as two certifications of lack of record for two businesses. 3 MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, certifications have been 4 filed for these tax documents. 5 Rule 902. We move to admit them now under No objection has been previously made. 6 THE COURT: Any objection, Mr. Ossick? 7 MR. OSSICK: No. 8 THE COURT: Then Exhibits 5A through F inclusive are 9 admitted without objection. 10 Q. 11 about the tax documents, can you go back and pull up the 12 Government Exhibit 6, the summary chart, and can we zoom in on 13 the "Total Gross Revenue" column for the applications the 14 defendant submitted at the bottom there, so "Gross Revenues 15 Claimed" at the bottom? 16 (By Mr. Josephson) Ms. Roper, before we go back and talk Agent Dye, what was the total gross revenues claimed in 17 the defendant's applications, either his or his family members, 18 that figure there on the left? 19 A. 20 please, and go to the one right above it? 21 Q. Zoom in, what is the figure displayed here? 22 A. That is the combined gross revenue information that was 23 submitted on the loan applications, both PPP and EIDL for 24 businesses for Bernard Okojie, those that are associated with 25 him or family members including -- I think I'm seeing a combined one. Could we go back, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 59 of 135 59 1 Q. What is that number if you could read it? 2 A. $2,415,273.00. 3 Q. All right, can we move back -- 4 A. That's for the year prior to the pandemic, 12 months, 5 2019. 6 Q. 7 publish Government 5C and move to the second page there. 8 recognize the Government 5C? 9 A. 10 income tax return for Bernard and Shekitha Okojie, married 11 filing jointly. 12 Q. Have you read this tax return? 13 A. Yes, I have. 14 Q. Did you see any of the entities that were listed on the 15 defendant's PPP and EIDL loan applications in the tax return? 16 A. No. 17 Q. Did you see gross revenues discussed in the tax return in 18 the amount of over two million dollars? 19 A. No. 20 Q. Did the defendant submit a W-2 of some kind showing work 21 earned in an employment fashion? 22 A. No. 23 Q. Was there anyone who had a W-2 in this tax return? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. Who did? Ms. Roper, can we move back to the tax exhibits and Yes. Do you It is a tax document for 2019, 1040 individual Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 60 of 135 60 1 A. Shekitha Okojie. 2 Q. Who is Shekitha Okojie? 3 A. Bernard Okojie's spouse. 4 Q. And what was the nature of that employment? 5 A. It was for a business that owns McDonald's restaurants. 6 Q. Ms. Roper, could we display Government Exhibit 5C18. 7 can remove that. 8 You In addition to the failure to declare certain gross 9 revenues did you see any fake tax documents? In your 10 investigation, did you see any fake tax documents? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. When you say fake tax documents, can you describe 13 generally what you saw with respect to fake tax documents? 14 A. 15 created to support the EIDL or PPP loan application that were 16 not included in the tax returns that were officially filed. 17 Q. 18 applications but they weren't actually submitted to the IRS? 19 A. Correct. 20 Q. Can we display what's been entered into evidence as 21 Government 3A56 Agent Dye. 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. What is the business name listed there? 24 A. Bernard Okojie. 25 Q. What is the address? We saw Schedule C and some other documents that were So you saw the documents submitted with the loan Do you recognize this document? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 61 of 135 61 1 A. 325 Mango Court, McDonough, Georgia 30253. 2 Q. For this one application, what is the total amount of 3 income from IRS Form 1040 Schedule C Line 7 listed? 4 A. $100,000.00. 5 Q. And what is the amount requested on the loan in the middle 6 part of the page? 7 plus EIDL." 8 A. $20,833.00. 9 Q. Is that the amount of the loan that the defendant was 10 seeking? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. In order to obtain that loan amount, would the defendant 13 have to represent certain gross revenues? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. And what was that representation here? 16 A. The $100,000.00. 17 Q. Please display 3A71 already entered into evidence. 18 are we looking at on 3A71? 19 A. 20 from business, Tax Form 2019. 21 Q. 22 just discussed? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. Can you tell me who is the name of the proprietor listed 25 at the top? I believe it starts with "multiplied by 2.5 What This is a Schedule C profit and loss form, profit or loss And was this form attached to the application that you Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 62 of 135 62 1 A. Bernard Okojie. 2 Q. What's the type of business? 3 A. Food service. 4 Q. And can we zoom in on Line 1, the figure, the figure 5 there, that entire Line 1, if you can, including the figure 6 represented. 7 A. Gross receipts or sales. 8 Q. And what's the amount there, if you can read it? 9 like it might be cut off. 10 A. $100,000.00. 11 Q. $100,000.00. 12 document we just discussed ever submitted to the IRS? 13 A. No. 14 Q. Is it an IRS form? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. But never submitted to the IRS? 17 A. Correct. 18 Q. Was it submitted in order to get a loan? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Can we show Government 3C6 previously entered into 21 evidence. 22 A. 23 document 2019 for Bernard Okojie. 24 Q. 25 another application? What does that say? Can we zoom out on this exhibit. It looks Was the What is this document, Agent Dye? Also a Schedule C profit or loss from business tax And to be clear, this is another Schedule C submitted for Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 63 of 135 63 1 A. Correct. 2 Q. What's the name at the top there for the proprietor? 3 A. Bernard Okojie. 4 Q. And what is Mr. Okojie doing on this application? 5 the nature of the business? 6 A. Used car dealer. 7 Q. And what's the name of the business in the Box C there? 8 A. B&K Automobile Sale, Inc. 9 Q. What is the gross revenue that's listed for B&K Automobile 10 Sale, Inc. in Line 1? 11 A. $181,222.00. 12 Q. And is this for the tax year 2019? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Was this document ever submitted to the IRS? 15 A. No. 16 Q. Can we display Government 3D101. 17 legal name listed on 3D101? 18 A. Southern A1 Preservation, LLC. 19 Q. What type of loan application is this? 20 A. Paycheck Protection Program. 21 Q. What is the name of the owner listed in the middle of this 22 document? 23 A. Shekitha Okojie. 24 Q. Is she the 100 percent owner? 25 ownership percentage next to her name. What's What is the business I think there's an Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 64 of 135 64 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Who is Shekitha Okojie? 3 A. Spouse of Bernard Okojie. 4 Q. What is the requested amount of this particular loan? 5 specifically I'm asking multiply by 2.5 plus EIDL. 6 more language, then it says equals the loan request amount? 7 A. $102,917.50. 8 Q. Is that the requested amount of the loan that Ms. Okojie 9 through Southern A1 Preservation, LLC is requesting? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. What is the average monthly payroll that's listed next to 12 the requested loan amount? 13 A. $41,167.00. 14 Q. What is payroll in general? 15 A. Payroll is the amount of money a business pays to 16 employees. 17 Q. 18 documents? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Could we please display 3D50. 21 Agent Dye? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. What is 3D50? 24 A. It's another Schedule C profit or loss from business Tax 25 Form 2019. And There's some Do you recall whether this application contained any tax Do you recognize 3D50, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 65 of 135 65 1 Q. And what's the name of the proprietor on this form? 2 A. Shekitha Okojie. 3 Q. What's the nature of the business that's represented? 4 A. Real estate property management. 5 Q. And the name of the company? 6 A. Southern A1 Preservation, LLC. 7 Q. What is the gross revenue that is listed for Southern A1 8 Preservation, LLC on Line 1? 9 A. $180,278.00. 10 Q. Did you see Southern A1's Schedule C listing $180,278.00 11 of gross revenues in the Okojie family tax return? 12 A. No. 13 Q. Was this submitted to get COVID money? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Display Government 3E. 16 THE COURT: And, counsel, it is approximately time for 17 our mid-afternoon break. 18 MR. JOSEPHSON: 19 THE COURT: Is this a convenient time? This is a good time. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for us to 20 stop for a 15-minute comfort break, so we will be in recess 21 until 3:30. 22 Special Agent, you are entitled to step down and get a 23 sip of water, take a comfort break, but you are to consider 24 yourself still on the stand during the break so that means 25 you're not to discuss your testimony with anyone including any Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 66 of 135 66 1 of the attorneys during this brief break. 2 THE WITNESS: 3 THE COURT: Understand? Yes, Your Honor. With that understanding, and the jury will 4 remember, don't discuss the case, don't make up your mind, don't 5 read, watch or listen to anything. 6 will be in recess until 3:30. Let's rise for the jury. 7 (The jury exits the courtroom.) 8 THE COURT: 9 (Recess from 3:15 p.m. to 3:29 p.m.) 10 THE COURT: 11 (The jury enters the courtroom.) 12 THE COURT: Counsel, we will be in recess until 3:30. Let's bring in the jury. Special Agent Dye, when we took our brief 13 break, you were on the stand sworn to tell the truth. 14 reaffirm that oath for the balance of your testimony? 15 THE WITNESS: 16 THE COURT: Do you Yes, Your Honor. Proceed. 17 Q. 18 discussing some of the tax documents that were submitted into 19 court as various loan applications; is that right? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Ms. Roper, could we display Government 3E? 22 has been previously entered into evidence. 23 We (By Mr. Josephson) Agent Dye, before the break, we were Government 3E Agent Dye, what is Government's 3E? 24 A. It is a Paycheck Protection Program form. 25 Q. What was the business legal name listed there? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 67 of 135 67 1 A. Shekitha Okojie. 2 Q. What is the address? 3 A. 325 Mango Court, McDonough, Georgia. 4 Q. What's the total amount of gross income that's listed 5 there? 6 A. $100,000.00. 7 Q. And on the right-hand side, there's a formula multiplied 8 by 2.5 plus EIDL. 9 loan requested amount? 10 A. $20,833.00. 11 Q. Can we display 3E61? 12 A. It's a Schedule C profit or loss from business, Tax 13 Document 2019. 14 Q. 15 loan application? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. What is the name of the proprietor listed? 18 A. Shekitha Okojie. 19 Q. And what is the nature of the business that's listed? 20 A. Food services. 21 Q. What is the gross revenue amount listed on Line 1 of this 22 Schedule C? 23 A. $100,000.00. 24 Q. Did you see this document in the actual tax returns 25 submitted on behalf of the defendant and his wife? It equals loan requested amount. What is the Agent Dye, what is 3E61? Was this document submitted in support of this particular Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 68 of 135 68 1 A. No. 2 Q. We can pull down 3E61. 3 I want to move on from the tax records, Agent Dye, and ask 4 you about the Georgia Department of Labor. Did you request 5 documents from the Georgia Department of Labor? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. Why did you do that? 8 A. To look for information concerning the businesses on the 9 applications submitted by Bernard Okojie. 10 Q. 11 some type of paperwork with the Georgia Department of Labor? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. In general, what types of paperwork does the GDOL require? 14 A. They require businesses to register with them, 15 specifically because of unemployment tax claim requirements, and 16 in that requirement, they must submit their business name, which 17 they would do through the Georgia Secretary of State, obtain an 18 EIN and collect the information, business structure payroll for 19 full-time and part-time employees, the first date of the first 20 payroll as well as provide the business address, e-mail address, 21 the principal address and e-mail address and the identity of the 22 owner, partners or key management personnel like a CFO, CEO. 23 Q. Do they also administer unemployment insurance programs? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. Ms. Roper, can we pull up the summary chart that was Does a real business in Georgia generally have to file Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 69 of 135 69 1 previously displayed, Government Exhibit 6. 2 on the employees claimed chart at the bottom. 3 claimed chart, the entire column. 4 And please zoom in The employees Agent Dye, I want to direct your attention to the bottom 5 of this column. Are these the employees that the defendant 6 claimed on his COVID-19 loan application? 7 A. Yes, 82. 8 Q. 82, all right. 9 payroll records from the GDOL record for any employees? 10 A. No. 11 Q. Did the GDOL provide paperwork certifying that they didn't 12 have any records for the defendant's business entities? 13 A. 82 employees. Did you see any actual Yes. 14 MR. JOSEPHSON: Your Honor, we provided this 15 certification in discovery to the defendant. It's a 16 self-authenticating document certification. Move to admit under 17 902. 18 THE COURT: 19 MR. JOSEPHSON: 20 THE COURT: Any objection? 21 MR. OSSICK: No, Your Honor. 22 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. 23 MR. JOSEPHSON: 24 Roper. 25 Q. Is that Number 7? (By Mr. Josephson) Number 7, yes. Please publish Government's 7, Ms. Is this a copy of the certification of Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 70 of 135 70 1 no records from the Georgia Department of Labor? 2 A. Yes, it is. 3 Q. We can pull down Government 7. 4 Thank you. Agent Dye, did you also review records from the Georgia 5 Secretary of State? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. What does the Georgia Secretary of State generally require 8 of real businesses in Georgia? 9 A. 10 register with the secretary of state's office. 11 Q. 12 the defendant's purported businesses? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. What did you generally find? 15 A. I found that some were registered. 16 registered. 17 Q. 18 defendant? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. And where did you attempt to conduct that interview? 21 A. I went to his house, his residence. 22 Q. And where was that house located? 23 A. 325 Mango Court, McDonough, Georgia. 24 Q. Generally speaking, where is McDonough located? 25 A. It's in Henry County, which is south of Atlanta off of Georgia Secretary of State requires that businesses Did you review the registrations that were associated with Some were not Some were dissolved and some had changed names. In this investigation, did you attempt to interview the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 71 of 135 71 1 I-75. 2 Q. What type of house was it? 3 A. It was a single family two-story residential home. 4 Q. What was the nature of the neighborhood? 5 A. It was a preplanned neighborhood with -- that you would 6 generally see in that area with pool and tennis amenities. 7 Q. Did you see any cars in the driveway? 8 A. Yes, there was a black Escalade. 9 Q. Was the defendant at this house when you tried to 10 interview him? 11 A. He was not. 12 Q. Did you call him? 13 A. I did. 14 Q. And what phone number did you use? 15 A. I called him from my telephone number, and I called him -- 16 I'd have to refresh my memory, but I believe it was 470 -- 17 Q. 18 know the defendant's phone number? 19 A. It was the number on the EIDL applications. 20 Q. Did he answer your phone call -- 21 A. No. 22 Q. -- initially? 23 A. It went to voicemail, and I left a voicemail identifying 24 myself and requested him to call me back. 25 Q. Well, I'm not asking you the specific number. And did the defendant call you back? How did you Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 72 of 135 72 1 A. Yes, two days later, he called me back. 2 Q. Do you remember the approximate date? 3 A. The 19th of 2021, November 19th, 2021. 4 Q. Were you driving at the time? 5 A. Yes, I was. 6 Q. Did you pull off the road when the defendant called you? 7 A. I did not. 8 Q. Was the phone call recorded? 9 A. Yes, it was. 10 Q. Have you listened to that recording? 11 A. I have. 12 Q. And does the recording accurately depict the conversation 13 that you had with the defendant on the phone on November the 14 19th, 2021? 15 A. Yes, it does. 16 Q. And have you entered that recording into evidence? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Have you reviewed the audio recording prior to the trial 19 today identified in Government Exhibit 8? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Is that a copy of the recording that you've just testified 22 about? 23 A. Yes. 24 MR. JOSEPHSON: 25 Government Exhibit 8. Your Honor, we would move to admit Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 73 of 135 73 1 THE COURT: Any objection? 2 MR. OSSICK: No objection. 3 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. 4 MR. JOSEPHSON: 5 for the jury. 6 THE COURT: 7 (Audio played.) 8 THE COURT: 9 We would like to play this audio file Proceed. Wait, if you will stop, it's in the middle of something. 10 MR. JOSEPHSON: Having some technical difficulty there. 11 We're going to start the audio file first with the volume fully 12 up. 13 (Audio played.) 14 Q. 15 that? 16 A. No, sir. 17 Q. The last question I want to ask you, Agent Dye, I want to 18 go back for just a second to the Georgia Department of Labor. 19 would like to display 3D1 and 3B21 previously entered into 20 evidence. 21 (By Mr. Josephson) There wasn't another phone call after I While we're pulling that up, you testified previously that 22 you did not find records from the Georgia Department of Labor; 23 is that correct? 24 A. Yes, lack of records. 25 Q. Did you see documents in the loan applications that Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 74 of 135 74 1 purported to be payroll records? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. And did you notice that those payroll records, did you 4 notice anything suspicious about those payroll records compared 5 to other applications? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. What did you see? 8 A. I saw a payroll record for Bernard Okojie and a payroll 9 record for Shekitha Okojie and they were very similar, had some 10 numbers were identical. 11 Q. 12 were taxes withheld from certain payments to people? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. And we have a -- pulled up here 3D1 and 3B21, and I'd like 15 to direct your attention to the top portion of the page that 16 says "Employee Taxes." 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Are the numbers in this section -- and specifically I'm 19 asking -- I'm asking about really the entire column there that 20 starts with hours and earnings and goes to deductions and then 21 it has employee taxes? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Did you notice anything unusual regarding the numbers in 24 these two different payroll records? 25 A. Did the payroll records represent that there was, there Yes. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 75 of 135 75 1 Q. What did you notice? 2 A. They are identical. 3 Q. Identical numbers, are these different companies 4 supposedly? 5 A. 6 Preservation A1, LLC and the one on the right is Kojie9, LLC. 7 Q. 8 deducted for 401(k), what does that say, if you could? 9 read that? 10 A. $300.00. 11 Q. And then for the other one it was what? 12 A. $300.00. 13 Q. And the amount of insurance right below that? 14 A. My readers aren't so great. 15 Q. Hard to say? 16 A. I'm sorry. 17 Q. Is it the same amount on both of them? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Does that hold true for numerous categories of 20 information? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. I want to ask you finally at the bottom right, could we 23 zoom in on employer taxes and we can just do one of the forms. 24 It says Georgia state unemployment, SUTA, $326.94; is that 25 correct? Yes. The -- the first one on the left is Southern And just as an example, the amount of money that was Can you Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 76 of 135 76 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Did the Georgia Department of Labor have any records that 3 there were Georgia state unemployment taxes filed for the 4 entities in either of these applications? 5 A. No, they had lack of records. 6 MR. JOSEPHSON: 7 THE COURT: 8 Your Honor, that concludes my questions. All right, cross-examination, Mr. Ossick. CROSS-EXAMINATION 9 BY MR. OSSICK: 10 Q. 11 through 11H were the -- what you referenced as client financial 12 records? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. And I think you indicated that they showed where 15 15 percent or 20 percent would be paid out from the proceeds of 16 these various loans; is that correct? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. And these clients were the people, you named their names, 19 they were like the top part of the various summary charts we've 20 been looking at? 21 A. Yes, sir. 22 Q. The analysis you did of the remaining monies, how much of 23 that showed it was spent on things within the -- I believe you 24 described it as the guidelines of these programs, of the 85 or 25 80 percent payoff? Agent Dye, I believe you indicated, I think it's 11A It slightly varied. How much of it was within the guidelines you Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 77 of 135 77 1 referenced? 2 A. I did not conduct an analysis on that. 3 Q. You didn't look at how any of them spent that money? 4 A. We asked in the interviews. 5 Q. Did you do sort of forensic analysis on any of it? 6 A. Did not do forensic analysis on it. 7 Q. Now you indicated that you had received training in 8 connection with being an FBI agent, quite a bit; right? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. And did some of that have to do with how to do, conduct 11 interviews? 12 A. Yes. 13 MR. OSSICK: That's all I have. 14 THE COURT: Any brief redirect? 15 MR. JOSEPHSON: 16 Thank you. Briefly, Your Honor. REDIRECT EXAMINATION 17 BY MR. JOSEPHSON: 18 Q. Can you pay kickbacks with COVID money? 19 A. No. 20 Q. And by kickbacks, I mean can you pay somebody to falsely 21 submit a loan and use the loan proceeds in order to do that? 22 A. No. 23 Q. The Government hasn't approved that? 24 A. Correct. 25 Q. With respect to the other money that was in the accounts Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 78 of 135 78 1 of people who got assistance from the defendant, did you see 2 anything generally that showed that they owned businesses that 3 grossed over 200 grand? 4 A. No. 5 MR. JOSEPHSON: 6 THE COURT: 7 Mr. Josephson, do you contemplate this witness remaining at the table as the case agent? 8 MR. JOSEPHSON: 9 THE COURT: 10 Yes, Your Honor. Then you may have a seat. Call your next witness. 11 12 No further questions, Your Honor. MS. STANLEY: The Government calls SBA Attorney Adviser Raymond Brown. 13 RAYMOND BROWN, 14 having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as 15 follows: 16 THE CLERK: Thank you. You may be seated and if you 17 will please state your full name, spell your last name, state 18 your occupation and your business address. 19 THE WITNESS: Name is Raymond Brown. That's B-r-o-w-n. 20 I'm an attorney for the Small Business Administration. 21 say business address? 22 THE CLERK: 23 THE WITNESS: 24 25 Did you Yes, please. 149 T5 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76155. DIRECT EXAMINATION Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 79 of 135 79 1 BY MS. STANLEY: 2 Q. 3 Small Business Administration? 4 A. Yes, ma'am. 5 Q. Is that sometimes abbreviated SBA? 6 A. That's correct. 7 Q. And what is your job title there? 8 A. I'm a supervisory attorney. 9 Q. What is the SBA's mission? 10 A. The SBA's mission is to help small businesses in various 11 ways. 12 Q. Is one of the ways the SBA does that by providing loans? 13 A. Yes, that's correct. 14 Q. Do your duties as a supervisory attorney involve 15 administering disaster relief programs? 16 A. 17 lending area. 18 Q. Is the EIDL one of those programs? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. What does EIDL stand for? 21 A. It stands for Economic Injury Disaster Loan. 22 Q. Are you familiar with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and 23 Economic Security Act? 24 A. The CARES Act, yes, ma'am. 25 Q. At a high level, can you explain what the CARES Act is? Good afternoon, Mr. Brown. You said you work for the Yes, that's exactly correct. I worked in the disaster Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 80 of 135 80 1 A. So the CARES Act is -- was basically funding for 2 coronavirus pandemic relief, including we work the EIDL, the 3 economic injury loans, and so that loan program already existed. 4 CARES Act funded it specifically for coronavirus pandemic. 5 Q. 6 program does? 7 A. 8 disaster loan. 9 be in conjunction with a physical disaster like if you have 10 tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, things like that, but it provides 11 working capital to businesses that are impacted by whatever kind 12 of disaster it was, so like a hurricane, if everybody evacuates, 13 you've got no clientele. Can you explain in a little more detail what the EIDL So the EIDL program, it's economic injury. It's a The program existed before COVID. It was -- can 14 So you're going to suffer some kind of economic injury. 15 With the pandemic, it was because of the lockdowns and things 16 like that that businesses were suffering economic injury. 17 Q. 18 have a particular emphasis on small businesses? 19 A. 20 Administration. 21 Q. 22 small businesses in particular? 23 A. 24 going to have, you know, kind of the cash reserves and things to 25 weather some kind of major economic event, economic injury like Obviously, the CARES Act had many components, but did it a Yes, yes. We are part of the Small Business And why was the CARES Act focused on providing relief for Small businesses, just by nature of being smaller, are not Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 81 of 135 81 1 the pandemic, that a larger business would. 2 Q. 3 result of the pandemic? 4 A. Yes, ma'am. 5 Q. And were some of them forced to temporarily close? 6 A. That's correct. 7 Q. You mentioned the CARES Act appropriating funds for the 8 EIDL program. 9 program? 10 A. 11 other programs funded by the CARES Act. 12 Q. 13 period of time in response to COVID-19? 14 A. Yes, ma'am. 15 Q. Do you have an estimate on about how many EIDLs were 16 distributed as a result of the pandemic? 17 A. 18 for the pandemic. 19 Q. Who was eligible for EIDLs authorized under the CARES Act? 20 A. Businesses that -- you had to be a business in existence 21 prior to the declaration of the disaster, which was January 31st 22 of 2020. 23 time because you suffered an economic injury because of COVID. 24 So if you didn't exist, if the business didn't exist before 25 COVID, then there is no injury, so it's -- yes. Were some businesses forced to limit operations as a Yes. Did it also allocate funds for the PPP loan The Paycheck Protection Program, that was one of the Were a substantial amount of EIDLs distributed in a short It was about 3.8 million loans that were disbursed total You had to obviously already be in business at that Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 82 of 135 82 1 Q. Were these loans designed to provide startup funds for 2 businesses that were not in existence before the pandemic? 3 A. 4 expanding your operation, anything like that. 5 meet the needs that you couldn't meet because of the pandemic. 6 Q. Who provides the funds for EIDLs? 7 A. So the funds, ultimately they come from Congress and then 8 they are disbursed directly to the borrowing business by the 9 Government, by the SBA. 10 Q. Do the funds ultimately come from tax dollars then? 11 A. Yes, ma'am, that's correct. 12 Q. Where is the SBA office located that is responsible for 13 processing EIDL applications? 14 A. That's the Fort Worth, Texas address. 15 Q. Is there a particular office within the SBA that is 16 responsible for transmitting funds? 17 A. 18 request for disbursement, then it goes to our Denver Finance 19 Center, Denver, Colorado. 20 Q. 21 transmission of that application from Fort Worth to Denver? 22 A. When it's funded, yes, ma'am. 23 Q. Do you know where the money goes for funded EIDL loans 24 after Denver? 25 A. No. It was not for startup funds. It was not for It was just to So, yes, after we make -- process the loan and make a So when an EIDL application is approved, is there always a After Denver, it goes to the treasury office in Kansas Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 83 of 135 83 1 City. 2 Q. And those are through wire transmissions? 3 A. That's correct. 4 Q. Are you familiar with the EIDL application process? 5 A. Yes, ma'am. 6 Q. Is there an application form associated with the EIDL 7 application process? 8 A. Yes, there was. 9 Q. Are you familiar with that form? 10 A. Yes. 11 12 MS. STANLEY: Your Honor, request permission to approach the witness? 13 THE COURT: Yes. 14 Q. (By Ms. Stanley) Mr. Brown, I'm handing you what's been 15 marked as Government Exhibit 10. 16 let me know if you are familiar with this document? 17 A. Yes, ma'am. 18 Q. You're familiar with this document? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. What is it? 21 A. So the first four to five pages here are basically 22 frequently asked questions, instruction pages for the EIDL 23 program, and then the rest of the packet is the screens for the 24 application process. 25 Q. If you will review that and Do these pages show what the application form would have Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 84 of 135 84 1 looked like on a Web site? 2 A. Yes, ma'am. 3 Q. On the SBA's Web site in particular? 4 A. Correct. 5 Q. This is something the SBA produced? 6 A. Correct. 7 8 MS. STANLEY: Your Honor, the Government moves to admit Exhibit 10 and to publish it to the jury. 9 THE COURT: Any objection? 10 MR. OSSICK: No. 11 THE COURT: Admitted without objection proceed. 12 Q. 13 Government's 10, please. 14 (By Ms. Stanley) Thank you. Ms. Roper, Page 6 of Mr. Brown, how did an applicant for an EIDL loan access 15 the EIDL application? 16 A. 17 page and there's a link that requests pandemic relief, something 18 like that, and it would take them to this page. 19 Q. 20 applicant would see? 21 A. Yes, ma'am. 22 Q. Can you explain to the jury what is contained in that 23 section at the bottom of the page where it says "Eligible Entity 24 Verification"? 25 A. So they would go to SBA.gov which is the SBA's general Web So is this the first set of questions that an EIDL So these are basically just preliminary eligibility Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 85 of 135 85 1 questions. You know, the first one, you have to verify that you 2 are a small business, that you are not engaged in any type of 3 act that -- activity that you couldn't be, you know, that would 4 have been prohibited under the program. 5 Q. 6 zoom back out, please. Ms. Roper, will you go to Page 7 of Government's 10 and 7 Will you zoom into that top section, Ms. Roper. 8 Mr. Brown, what is Step 1 Disclosure Subsection 3 asking 9 for? 10 A. 11 not engaged in what would be ineligible or illegal activities. 12 Q. 13 make you ineligible for an EIDL? 14 A. 15 but down towards the bottom you've got gambling activities, 16 something of a sexual nature, lobbying, like lobbying Congress, 17 those types of things are prohibited, you know, within our 18 program. 19 Q. 20 order to go to the next step of the application? 21 A. That's correct. 22 Q. Ms. Roper, can we go to Page 9 of Government 's 10. 23 if you will zoom in and I know, Mr. Brown, there are several 24 lines on this page of the application, but generally what is 25 this section of the application asking for? Basically you have to affirmatively certify that you're And what kinds of those, what kinds of activities would So like the first one says any kind of illegal activity, So an applicant had to check through all of these boxes in And Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 86 of 135 86 1 A. 2 gross revenues and cost of goods sold. 3 what we used to establish how much, how large of a loan you 4 could get, and down at the bottom, it's got business information 5 like what's the name of the business, mailing address, contact 6 information, that type of info. 7 Q. 8 labeled "Gross Revenues for the 12 Months Prior." 9 this asking for -- I'm sorry, Ms. Roper, will you go to the 10 second line down that says "Gross Revenues." 11 So this section, business information is, it starts out Those were basically Ms. Roper, will you zoom in to the third line down, Mr. Brown, is Does that second line down, Mr. Brown, ask for the gross 12 revenues of the company for the year prior to the pandemic? 13 A. That's correct. 14 Q. And that's using that January 31st, 2020 date you 15 mentioned earlier? 16 A. That's correct. 17 Q. The next item, you mentioned cost of goods sold. 18 the same time period used for that number? 19 A. Yes, ma'am. 20 Q. Can you explain how the SBA calculated how much money a 21 business was eligible for under the EIDL program? 22 A. 23 provide, the applicant provides gross revenues and cost of goods 24 sold, and the beginning of the program is basically considering 25 a six-month injury period. Is that So for the EIDL program when we first started out, they We're asking for gross revenues and Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 87 of 135 87 1 cost of goods sold for the year prior to the disaster, so we 2 take gross revenues, subtract cost of goods sold and divide that 3 answer by two because it's a six-month injury period. 4 Q. 5 left-hand side of the form. 6 were required to be filled in? 7 A. That's correct. 8 Q. Ms. Roper, if you will go to the next page, Page 10 of 9 Government's 10. 10 page of the application asking for? 11 A. This is the business owner information. 12 Q. Is this asking for the applicant to enter basic 13 information about the owner of the business? 14 A. 15 they hold, ownership percent, that type of thing. 16 Q. 17 if you will zoom in to the section entitled "Additional 18 Information." 19 is this section of the application asking for? 20 A. 21 or any of the listed owners have any pending, have any 22 convictions or any pending indictment, criminal cases going on, 23 if they are currently suspended or prohibited from dealing with 24 the federal government. 25 Q. In this page, Mr. Brown, there's red lines on the Do those mean that those blanks Mr. Brown, generally speaking, what is this That's correct, you know, name, contact info, title office Ms. Roper, if you will go to the next page, Page 11, and Mr. Brown, again generally at a high level, what So this is asking about criminal history. If the business Ms. Roper, if you will zoom back out and zoom into the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 88 of 135 88 1 bottom section of this page. 2 Mr. Brown, what is Section 7 asking for? 3 A. This is asking if someone else helped you complete the 4 application, so, you know, SBA sends you to this page. 5 Generally people complete it themselves but we do ask if anyone 6 has helped you complete it. 7 can be paid for assistance, filling out the SBA form. 8 Q. What is that limit? 9 A. It's $2500.00. 10 Q. Can you make that payment out of the loan proceeds? 11 A. Conceivably you could. 12 pay it up front, you would be paying it before, but if the 13 person making the -- you know, putting the application in for 14 you did it contingent upon you getting the loan, then right. 15 It's not permissible if that's what you're asking. 16 Q. 17 assisted you out of the money that you get from the SBA? 18 A. 19 us. 20 Q. It's not permissible under the guidelines of the program? 21 A. Correct. 22 Q. Ms. Roper, will you go to the next, Page 12 of 23 Government's 10, please. 24 A. 25 COVID pandemic. We have a limitation on how much It's -- if, you know, if I had to Are you allowed to make that payment to a person who No, no. That's not a permissible use of loan proceeds for Mr. Brown, what is an EIDL advance? So the EIDL advance was something that came along with the It was basically a way to try to get more money Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 89 of 135 89 1 out, some of the money faster into the hands of the businesses 2 that needed it, so they came up with this EIDL advance program 3 that was based on the number of employees you have. 4 part of the same application, and that advance could be funded a 5 lot quicker than, you know, processing the entire loan towards 6 an approval decision. 7 Q. Did you have to pay that EIDL advance back? 8 A. No. 9 come out of your loan eligibility, but they were not repaid with 10 the loan. 11 Q. How was the EIDL advance amount calculated? 12 A. It was calculated based on the number of employees you 13 stated you had in the application up to ten. 14 max on the grant, so when you put in number of employees, you 15 put in two, you to $2,000.00. 16 $6,000.00, up to 10. 17 Q. 18 application, I mean, advance, excuse me? 19 A. That's correct. 20 Q. So what does Question Number 8 ask the applicant to do? 21 A. Check the box basically. 22 considered for an advance of up to $10,000.00," and you would 23 have to check that box for it to kick off the advance grant 24 process. 25 Q. It's all If you got advanced funds, those were not -- they did It was basically a grant. It was $10,000.00 You put in six, you get Is this page of the form referencing that EIDL It says, "I would like to be That's all you had to do was check the box to be Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 90 of 135 90 1 considered for that $10,000.00 grant? 2 A. 3 think was directly above that box. 4 Q. 5 Question Number 9. 6 A. 7 also for the loan if it gets approved, the applicant puts in 8 their bank account information where they want that money to go. 9 And you had to fill in the number of employees, which I Right below that, Ms. Roper, if you will zoom into What is that asking for, Mr. Brown? So within the application, specifically for the grant and So whatever grant you get approved for and then 10 subsequently the loan, whatever bank name, routing number and 11 account number that you put in the application, that's where SBA 12 sends that money. 13 Q. 14 You can zoom back out, Ms. Roper. And, finally, Mr. Brown, based on your experience with the 15 SBA, does the SBA ask for certain certifications on its own 16 applications? 17 A. Yes, ma'am. 18 Q. What are certifications? 19 A. Certifications basically that statements that you've made 20 here are truthful information, not unlike the oath I took when I 21 came up here. 22 this information, you know, to get SBA, to induce SBA to give 23 you this loan. 24 Q. 25 loan application process? Just that you're telling the truth in providing Why are those kinds of certifications important in the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 91 of 135 91 1 A. 2 important because of the size of the pandemic and the number of 3 small businesses seeking aid. 4 streamline our processes and so, you know, we had to rely very 5 heavily on the truthfulness of the statements made by the 6 businesses. 7 of businesses to keep them afloat, so there wasn't, you know, 8 our normal back-checking that was going on at that time. 9 Q. 10 an EIDL loan during the pandemic? 11 A. 12 provided in the application was what was used to process your 13 loan. 14 Q. 15 went through? 16 A. Correct. 17 Q. Can you go to the next page of this document, Ms. Roper. 18 So in COVID pandemic framework, they were especially You know, we had to kind of You know, we had to get a lot of money out to a lot And did you have to provide supporting documentation for It could be asked for, but mostly no. I mean, what you So just what was contained in the application that we just Mr. Brown, what does this page of this document reflect? 19 A. This appears to be the answers to the application 20 questions. 21 Q. 22 review a summary of what you had just entered? 23 A. Right, it's like a review page. 24 Q. Is that what this page shows? 25 A. Yes, ma'am. After you filled in the EIDL application, would you then Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 92 of 135 92 1 Q. 2 Ms. Roper, would you go to the next page, please. And what does this page of the application process 3 reflect, Mr. Brown? 4 A. 5 information that you entered. 6 Q. 7 asking the applicant to do? 8 A. 9 computer program, it's not batch entering, that you're not a 10 robot, you're not a computer system, that you're actually a 11 person. 12 Q. 13 the application to the SBA for the processing? 14 A. That's correct. 15 Q. Is that what that "Submit" button at the bottom shows? 16 A. Yes, ma'am. 17 Q. Ms. Roper, would you go to the next page. 18 applicant hits "Submit" on this application, what happens next? 19 A. 20 screen there is assigned. 21 identifier for that particular application so that it can be 22 pulled up and referenced in the system by anybody working the 23 file at SBA, and it's the number you would call in and give us 24 when you're asking questions, status updates, things about your 25 loan, and then that basically submits and transmits into our Same kind of thing. This is reviewing the business owner At the bottom of the page, Question 12, what is that That's the, you know, confirming that it's not like a You've got to check the box. After answering that question, would the applicant submit After an So that application number that they get back on the It's an individual, it's a unique Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 93 of 135 93 1 processing system for grants to be disbursed and the decision to 2 be made on the loan application. 3 Q. Were some loan applications automatically approved? 4 A. Yes, ma'am. 5 Q. Can you elaborate on that a little bit more? 6 work? 7 A. 8 flags, then the loan application could be auto-approved by -- by 9 the system. 10 Q. 11 out the door? 12 A. 13 a supervisor level signoff. 14 Q. If there were any red flags, what happened next? 15 A. Then it would get routed to a loan officer for processing 16 and they process it much more in line with how our regular 17 disaster loans get processed. 18 then it goes to the same supervisor signoff. 19 Q. 20 for the applicant? 21 A. 22 is your approved loan amount and they have to accept that, and 23 then we generate closing documents and they would go into the 24 portal. 25 the portal where they can electronically sign the loan closing How did that Within the system, if there were no, you know, kind of red Did anyone have to sign off on that before the money went You would have a team lead sign off, which is kind of like You'd have more sets of eyes and After a loan application is approved, what's the next step We generate closing documents. We send them their -- this They have to create a portal account and they go into Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 94 of 135 94 1 documents. 2 Q. 3 clear. 4 sent to the applicant? 5 A. 6 that directs you back to the portal to take action. 7 Q. 8 in the application? 9 A. That's correct. 10 Q. And at what point in this process would an applicant 11 create a log-in user name and password? 12 A. 13 got to this last screen that assigns them an application number. 14 Q. 15 into the portal to sign the closing documents? 16 A. That's correct. 17 Q. What kind of closing documents did the applicant have to 18 sign? 19 A. 20 a loan authorization and agreement, which is the contract. 21 tells you what the terms are, the amount of the loan, repayment, 22 who it's between, the borrower's name and Small Business 23 Administration, that kind of thing, and then you've got a 24 promissory note, which is your basic promise to pay. 25 interest amount, payment amount, due on the first of whatever Let me break that down a little bit to make sure I'm After a loan application is approved, is there an e-mail Yes. Yeah, communication is done through e-mail basically And would that e-mail be sent to the e-mail address listed They could create a portal account just as soon as they And they would have to do that before they could log back So the basic loan-closing package, you have what's called It It's got Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 95 of 135 95 1 month starting in however long your deferment period is, that 2 type of info, and if it's a secured loan, if it's above 3 $25,000.00, you would have a security agreement, which is a 4 document you have to sign. 5 collateral for the loan. 6 Q. 7 loan? 8 A. Correct. 9 Q. And was there a separate step where the applicant had to 10 choose the loan amount? 11 A. 12 accept, we told them what their maximum eligibility was. 13 was a slider where they could choose a smaller amount if they, 14 you know, felt like they only needed a smaller amount. 15 Q. 16 be uploaded to the portal for signature? 17 A. That's correct. 18 Q. And they would digitally sign these documents or how would 19 they sign? 20 A. 21 DocuSign vendor because it's an e-sign program and so we had all 22 the documents e-signed through DocuSign. 23 Q. 24 sign contain a certification that all of the information in the 25 loan application was true, correct and complete? It's the collateral, providing the So two to three documents depending on the amount of the That was part in the -- in the -- when I said they could There After that, that's when the loan closing documents would Yes. They were all electronically signed. We used Did the loan authorization and agreement that they had to Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 96 of 135 96 1 A. Yes, it did. 2 Q. Ms. Roper, you can take Government's 10 down. 3 Mr. Brown, are EIDL funds only authorized for certain 4 uses? 5 A. (Nods head). 6 Q. Do they have to be business-related expenses? 7 A. Yes. 8 the business. 9 Q. 10 money on? 11 A. 12 pay that they can't because of the pandemic. 13 Q. Would mortgage bills for a business location count? 14 A. If it was a regular payment that they were paying before 15 the pandemic and they couldn't because of the pandemic, then 16 they could spend it on that type of things. 17 Q. Utilities, would that count? 18 A. Correct. 19 Q. Payroll for their employees? 20 A. That's correct. 21 Q. Ms. Roper, can you please publish Government's 2A Page 32. It's a loan to a business so it has to be spent on What kinds of business expenses can a business spend that It's basically operating expenses that they normally would 22 Mr. Brown, just briefly, is this a summary of the 23 information contained in the application form that we just 24 looked at? 25 A. Yes, this is the data output from what we collect in our Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 97 of 135 97 1 system. 2 Q. 3 column under I believe it says "Value." 4 hard time reading it, there in the middle, Line 8 through 33, 5 second to last column to the right. Okay. Can you see, Ms. Roper, will you zoom in to the I'm sorry, I'm having a Yes, ma'am. 6 Mr. Brown, looking at the numbers contained on this 7 summary, are you able to explain how the SBA would calculate the 8 maximum amount of loan money this applicant would be eligible 9 for? 10 A. 11 what we would start with. 12 subtract out cost of goods sold. 13 case, so we're going to take $233,900.00 minus zero and then 14 divide it by two. 15 Q. So about 117 or 118 thousand dollars? 16 A. Approximately, yes. 17 Q. Ms. Roper, you can take that bottom down. 18 So this $233,900.00 line was the gross revenues, so that's The line directly below it, we would Nothing was entered in this Mr. Brown, if the SBA learned that false information was 19 provided with the loan application, would that affect its 20 lending decision? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Would providing false information about a business's gross 23 revenues influence the SBA's decision to approve a loan? 24 A. Yes, it would result in a decline. 25 Q. Specifically could inflating the numbers inflate the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 98 of 135 98 1 amount of money that a business could be eligible for? 2 A. It could just based on that formula. 3 Q. Would falsely affirming that a business was in existence 4 prior to the pandemic impact the SBA's decision to provide a 5 loan? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. If the business falsely reported employees, would that 8 impact the SBA's decision to provide an EIDL advance? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Did the money for the EIDL program run out? 11 A. Yes. 12 Act at one point ran out. 13 longer than anybody expected, so there was a second round of 14 funding, probably I guess early 2021 that funded the program to 15 keep it going because the pandemic was still ongoing. 16 Q. Did that second round of money also run out? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Was there any additional pandemic-related EIDL funding 19 after that? 20 A. Initially, what was initially approved by the CARES The pandemic went on, you know, a lot Ultimately that ran out in May of 2022. Not that I'm aware of. 21 MS. STANLEY: Nothing further, Your Honor. 22 THE COURT: Cross-examination, Mr. Ossick. 23 MR. OSSICK: No questions. 24 THE COURT: Any objection to this witness being excused? 25 MS. STANLEY: No, Your Honor. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 99 of 135 99 1 THE COURT: 2 THE WITNESS: 3 THE COURT: 4 Thank you. On behalf of the United States, call your next witness. 5 6 You may step down and you're excused. MS. STANLEY: The Government calls SBA OIG Special Agent Lott. 7 THE CLERK: 8 uphold that oath? 9 You were previously sworn. THE WITNESS: 10 Do you still Yes. SPECIAL AGENT JUSTIN LOTT, 11 having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as 12 follows: 13 14 THE CLERK: State your full name, spell your last. State your occupation and your business address. 15 THE WITNESS: My name is Justin Lott. Last name spelled 16 L-o-t-t. 17 Business Administration Office of Inspector General. 18 include criminal investigations where the SBA is a victim or has 19 an interest. 20 I'm a special agent with the United States Small My duties After the COVID pandemic, my responsibilities primarily 21 related to the financial fraud investigations involving COVID 22 fraud such as PPP and EIDL loan fraud. 23 DIRECT EXAMINATION 24 BY MS. STANLEY: 25 Q. Thank you, Agent Lott. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 100 of 135 100 1 How long have you worked at the SBA? 2 A. Since June of 2021. 3 Q. Where did you work before that? 4 A. Previously I was a special agent working for the United 5 States Army Criminal Investigation Command in a unit called the 6 major procurement fraud unit. 7 Q. Are you familiar with the Payroll Protection Program? 8 A. Yes, I am. 9 Q. Is your familiarity through your work with the SBA? 10 A. Yes, it is. 11 Q. Can you generally describe what a PPP loan is? 12 A. As we've heard, the CARES Act had multiple facets to it, 13 of which was the EIDL loans as well as the PPP loans. 14 were another form of small business funding to help struggling 15 small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. 16 Q. 17 CARES Act? 18 A. 19 business in operation prior to February 15, 2020. 20 Q. Who provided the funds for PPP loans? 21 A. So the PPP program was actually, the SBA delegated 22 authority for the program to third-party financial institutions 23 and those financial institutions were ones that ultimately 24 funded the loans; however, they are fully 100 percent backed by 25 the United States Government, the taxpayer and the SBA. PPP loans So who is eligible for PPP loans authorized under the To be eligible for a PPP loan, you had to be a small Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 101 of 135 101 1 Q. Did the funding for the PPP program run out at some point? 2 A. Yes, it did. 3 Q. Do you know when that was? 4 A. I don't offhand. 5 Q. Were there restrictions on what a PPP loan could be used 6 for? 7 A. 8 eligible expenses for a small business that was in operation 9 prior to February 15th, 2020. 10 Yes, there were. Similar to the EIDL, it had to be Some of those categories included payroll expense, such as 11 the name implies, also things like mortgage, say if you had a 12 business operating out of a home, interest expense, things of 13 that nature. 14 Q. 15 process? 16 A. Yes, I am. 17 Q. Is there an application form for a PPP loan? 18 A. Yes, there is. 19 Q. Are you familiar with that form? 20 A. I am. 21 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please publish Government's 3A56. 22 Are you generally familiar with the PPP loan application Agent Lott, is this an example of at least the first page 23 of a PPP loan application? 24 A. Yes, it is. 25 Q. Does this document show the information submitted in a PPP Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 102 of 135 102 1 loan application? 2 A. Yes, it does. 3 Q. What kind of information does it include? 4 A. So it's got the business legal name, in this case Bernard 5 Okojie. 6 business address, the year of the establishment which, of 7 course, is important because you had to be in operation prior to 8 February of 2020. 9 It's got the individual associated with that business, It's also got other information such as business phone 10 number, a taxpayer identification number, number of employees 11 that was claimed as well financial information such as gross 12 income and payroll information. 13 Q. 14 does this page of this application show, Agent Lott? 15 A. 16 will see kind of towards the bottom, these are general questions 17 and certifications that the applicant had to attest to which is 18 indicated by their signed initials. 19 Q. 20 certifications to which the applicant had to attest? 21 A. Yes, they are. 22 Q. Ms. Roper, will you go to next page. Ms. Roper, will you go to the next page, please. What So this is a continuation of the application page. Can we go to the next page, Ms. Roper. As you Are these further 23 Agent Lott, did an applicant have to represent when 24 applying for a PPP loan that everything in the application was 25 true and correct and complete? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 103 of 135 103 1 A. Yes, they did. 2 Q. Did they then have to sign the application? 3 A. They did. 4 Q. Is that what's reflected on this page of the document? 5 A. Yes. 6 the electronic DocuSign signature of the applicant as well as 7 the date and title. 8 Q. 9 business applying for a PPP have to submit some kind of document 10 showing payroll expenses? 11 A. 12 either some kind of payroll ledger, some kind of payroll report 13 showing payroll expenditure or it could come in the form of IRS 14 documents such as an IRS Schedule C, which is the profit or loss 15 from a business, as well as a Form 940 that would be a tax 16 return for unemployment. 17 Q. 18 by the defendant in this case and in his wife's name? 19 A. Yes, I am. 20 Q. Is the application we just looked at for one of those? 21 A. Yes, it is. 22 Q. How many total PPP loans were applied for in the 23 defendant's name or in the name of one of his businesses or in 24 his wife 's name or in the name of one of her businesses? 25 A. In this case, you see the printed name as well as Ms. Roper, you can take that down. Yes, they did. Thank you. Did a Generally, they would come in the form of Are you familiar with the PPP loan applications submitted In total, we identified five applications, three of which Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 104 of 135 104 1 related to Mr. Okojie himself, two of those related to his wife, 2 Shekitha. 3 Q. How many of those were funded? 4 A. There were four total, two for each that were funded. 5 Q. Did you review the federal tax documents that were 6 included with those applications? 7 A. Yes, I did. 8 Q. Did you compare them to the actual tax records filed by 9 the defendant and his wife with the IRS? 10 A. Yes, I did. 11 Q. Are the PPP loan documents different from what was filed 12 with the IRS? 13 A. Yes, they are different. 14 Q. Did you compare any of those tax documents submitted with 15 the loans with each other? 16 A. Yes, I did. 17 Q. Ms. Roper, can you please pull up two documents, 3A71 and 18 3E61? 19 Agent Lott, is the document on the left submitted with one 20 of Mr. Okojie's PPP applications? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. And was the document on the right submitted with one of 23 Shekitha Okojie's loan applications? 24 A. Yes, it was. 25 Q. Did anything stand out to you about these two documents? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 105 of 135 105 1 A. 2 with the font, the color, also similarities with the type of 3 business that was purported on this tax form. 4 identifying as food service business, both with the same 5 address, 325 Mango Court, McDonough, Georgia, and they both 6 purport to have gross receipts or sales of $100,000.00 on the 7 nose. 8 Q. 9 Yes. Some things that stood out were the similarities They were both You can take those down, Ms. Roper. Agent Lott, did you compare payroll documents submitted 10 with any of these PPP loans with each other? 11 A. Yes, I did. 12 Q. Ms. Roper, can you pull up 3B21 and 3D1, please. 13 MS. ROPER: Can you repeat the second? 14 Q. (By Ms. Stanley) 3D1. Agent Lott, was the document on 15 the left submitted with one of Mr. Okojie's loan applications? 16 A. Yes, it was. 17 Q. Can you identify what business this report relates to? 18 A. Relates to a business identified as Kojie9, LLC. 19 Q. And was the document on the right submitted with one of 20 Shekitha Okojie's loan applications? 21 A. Yes, it was. 22 Q. What business was that in relation to? 23 A. It was identified in relation to Southern Preservation A1, 24 LLC. 25 Q. Does anything stand out to you comparing those two Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 106 of 135 106 1 documents? 2 A. 3 top section of each document, the payroll purported for Mr. 4 Bernard Okojie that you see on the left, the numbers are exactly 5 the same as that seen on the right with Ms. Shekitha Okojie. 6 Q. 7 connection with two different PPP loan applications than the two 8 tax documents we just looked at? 9 A. That's correct. 10 Q. And you mentioned there was a fifth PPP loan application 11 in the defendant's name? 12 A. 13 because the funds at that time for the PPP program had run out. 14 Q. 15 application? 16 A. Yes, there was. 17 Q. Was it similar to the ones we just looked at? 18 A. Yes, it was. 19 Q. Was it different from the tax documents filed by the 20 defendant with the IRS? 21 A. Yes, it was. 22 Q. Were there payroll reports submitted with that 23 application? 24 A. I don't recall offhand. 25 Q. Did the defendant receive approximately $125,000.00 in PPP Yes. When I compared the documents, I noticed that the And are these two payroll reports, were these submitted in That's correct. These are for different applications. There was a fifth that was unfunded Was there a Schedule C tax document filed with that Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 107 of 135 107 1 loans? 2 A. Yes, approximately. 3 Q. Did his wife Shekitha also received approximately 4 $125,000.00 in PPP loans? 5 A. Yes, approximately. 6 Q. Thank you, Ms. Roper. 7 You can take those down. Did you review the bank records for the account into which 8 one of Shekitha Okojie's PPP loans was deposited? 9 A. Yes, I did. 10 Q. How much money was that loan for? 11 A. I believe it was approximately $103,000.00 that I observed 12 going into a Synovus account that was 100 percent controlled by 13 Ms. Shekitha Okojie. 14 Q. 15 made out of that loan money? 16 A. 17 received from the PPP. 18 within a week or two a $20,000.00 official check was cut and 19 made payable to the benefit of B&K Freight and signed and 20 endorsed on the back by Mr. Bernard Okojie. 21 Q. 22 that check being deposited into a B&K Freight account? 23 A. Yes, I did. 24 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please pull up Government Exhibit 4B 25 Page 115. Did you see a payment for $25,000.00 immediately being Yes. It was within a week or two of the 103,000-plus As soon as those funds were deposited, Did you review the bank records for B&K Freight and see Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 108 of 135 108 1 Agent Lott, what does this show? 2 A. 3 Okojie's Synovus account. 4 Freight, and as we see on the second image below, the official 5 check was endorsed by Mr. Bernard Okojie and the check was in 6 the amount of $20,000.00. 7 Q. 8 So this is the official check that was drawn from Shekitha Thank you, Ms. Roper. The funds were payable to B&K You can take that down. Agent Lott, were all five PPP loan applications in the 9 defendant's or in his wife's name submitted after January 11th 10 of 2021? 11 A. That is correct. 12 Q. I'd like to ask you now about the flow of the loan 13 money -- 14 A. Okay. 15 Q. -- in this case. 16 records from the Small Business Administration for EIDLs in the 17 names of Bernard Okojie and several businesses he said he owned 18 and operated? 19 A. Yes, I did. 20 Q. Were there ten loan files total that you reviewed? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Did those loan files show all of the information submitted 23 as part of the loan applications? 24 A. Yes, they do. 25 Q. Do they also show whether the loan was granted and how During this investigation did you review Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 109 of 135 109 1 much money was disbursed? 2 A. Yes, they did. 3 Q. Did they also show which bank account the money was 4 deposited into? 5 A. They do. 6 Q. How many of those ten loan applications were granted? 7 A. For Mr. Okojie himself was three. 8 Q. Are those records voluminous? 9 A. They are. 10 Q. Did you also review bank records for the accounts into 11 which these loan proceeds were deposited? 12 A. Yes, I did. 13 Q. Were there three bank accounts total? 14 A. There were three different bank accounts. 15 Q. Do the records show the EIDL loan proceeds being deposited 16 into those three accounts? 17 A. Yes, they do. 18 Q. Whose names were on those three accounts? 19 A. The three accounts, they were under three different names. 20 One was under the name Kojie9, LLC. 21 the B&K Freight, LLC and another name or another account rather 22 was under the personal name of Mr. Bernard Okojie. 23 Q. 24 accounts? 25 A. Another account was under Was he the authorized signer on all three of those Yes, the only authorized signer on all three accounts. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 110 of 135 110 1 Q. Are those bank records voluminous? 2 A. They are. 3 Q. Have you developed summary charts that accurately reflect 4 certain loan and loan proceeds data from those loan files and 5 bank records? 6 A. Yes, I have. 7 Q. Do those charts present that information in a way that's 8 easy to understand? 9 A. They do. 10 Q. Generally what do those summary charts show? 11 A. So they start by showing from the SBA official EIDL file, 12 we talked about how the application identified the bank accounts 13 where the SBA proceeds are deposited to it, so I show a 14 screenshot that captures what bank account those are to be 15 deposited to. 16 I then follow up by showing from the actual financial 17 statements from that financial institution, identifying where 18 those funds flow into that bank account. 19 MS. STANLEY: At this time, Your Honor, we would move to 20 admit Government Exhibit 12A, 12B and 12C. The underlying 21 documents for those three summary charts are already in evidence 22 and they are admissible under Federal Rule 1006. 23 THE COURT: Any objection, Mr. Ossick? 24 MR. OSSICK: No. 25 THE COURT: Admitted without objection 12A through 12C Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 111 of 135 111 1 inclusive. 2 Q. 3 4 (By Ms. Stanley) Thank you, Your Honor. Ms. Roper, will you please publish Government's Exhibit 12A. 5 Agent Lott, what does this document show? 6 A. This a summary of a funded EIDL application ending 1462. 7 This was in relation to Mr. Bernard Okojie for his B&K Freight 8 company. 9 in the amount of $5,000.00 and a $9700.00 EIDL loan that were 10 shown to be deposited into a Regions bank account ending 4728. Section A shows a screenshot of a funded EIDL advance 11 Dropping down to Section E, this is where I identified the 12 funds, confirmed that they were, in fact, deposited to that 4728 13 account, and then down at the bottom, that is a screenshot of 14 the signature card identifying Mr. Bernard Okojie as the 15 signator on the account identified as B&K Freight, LLC. 16 Q. 17 in the name of B&K Freight, LLC? 18 A. Yes, they did. 19 Q. Into the name of B&K Freight, LLC? 20 A. Yes, they did. 21 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please pull up Government's 12B and 22 zoom in, as you did. 23 So did an EIDL in the amount of $14,700.00 total disburse Agent Lott, what does 12B show? 24 A. So this is a similar summary, again for Mr. Bernard 25 Okojie. This was in reference to EIDL application ending 2218. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 112 of 135 112 1 This was in reference to his company operated under the name 2 Kojie9, LLC. 3 and then an $11,700.00 EIDL loan that were deposited to his 4 Regions Bank Account 4752. 5 Q. Was the name on that bank account Kojie9, LLC? 6 A. Yes, it was. 7 Q. That was $17,700.00 total? 8 A. In total, yes, it was. 9 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please pull up Government's Exhibit 10 12C and zoom in as you did with the previous two, please. 11 In this case, there was a $6,000.00 EIDL advance Agent Lott, what does this document show? 12 A. 13 under the name of Mr. Bernard Okojie was funded in the amount of 14 $9,000.00 in the form of an EIDL advance and a $34,900.00 EIDL 15 loan less a $100.00 UCC filing, and those funds were deposited 16 into a First Citizens bank account ending 3160. 17 Q. Was that bank account in the name of Bernard Okojie? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. So that was about $43,000.00 in total? 20 A. Approximately, yes. 21 Q. Did Mr. Okojie receive a total of approximately $76,000.00 22 from these three applications? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. You can take that down, Ms. Roper. 25 So this is a snapshot showing EIDL application ending 2885 Agent Lott, during this investigation, did you also review Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 113 of 135 113 1 records from the Small Business Administration for eight EIDLs 2 in the names of other individuals or businesses? 3 A. Yes, I did. 4 Q. Based on your investigation, did you learn that Bernard 5 Okojie had completed those loan applications? 6 A. Yes, I did. 7 Q. Were there eight loan files total? 8 A. There were. 9 Q. Do those loan files show all of the information submitted 10 as part of the loan application? 11 A. They do. 12 Q. Do they also show whether the loan was granted and how 13 much money these purported businesses received? 14 A. Yes, they did. 15 Q. Did they also show which bank accounts the money was 16 deposited into? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. How many of those eight loan applications were granted? 19 A. All eight. 20 Q. Are those loan records voluminous? 21 A. Yes, they are. 22 Q. Did you also review bank records for the accounts into 23 which those loan proceeds were deposited? 24 A. Yes, I did. 25 Q. Were there eight bank accounts total? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 114 of 135 114 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Do they show the EIDL proceeds being deposited into those 3 accounts? 4 A. Yes, they do. 5 Q. Do the names on those bank accounts match the names on the 6 loans? 7 A. Yes, they do. 8 Q. Are those bank records voluminous? 9 A. They are. 10 Q. Have you developed summary charts that accurately reflect 11 certain loan and loans proceeds data from those loan files and 12 bank records? 13 A. Yes, I have. 14 Q. Do they present the information in a way that's easy to 15 understand? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. And generally what do those summary charts show? 18 A. Similar to what we just walked through with Mr. Okojie's 19 loans, I set up a similar summary that shows the official EIDL 20 file identifying what accounts the funds were deposited to. 21 then followed the funds through the financial institution and 22 confirmed the deposit was made, and then for these eight 23 applications, we identified, as soon as the funds were 24 deposited, official checks or cashier's checks were made out 25 payable to Mr. Okojie or his businesses. We Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 115 of 135 115 1 MS. STANLEY: Your Honor, we would move to admit 2 Government's Exhibits 12D, 12E, 12F, 12G, 12H, 12I, 12J and 12K 3 as summary charts under Federal Rule 1006. 4 records are in evidence already. The underlying 5 THE COURT: 6 MS. STANLEY: 7 THE COURT: Any objection? 8 MR. OSSICK: No. 9 THE COURT: Admitted without objection, Exhibits 12D 10 But not 12L? Not at this time. through 12K inclusive. 11 MS. STANLEY: (By Ms. Stanley) Thank you, Your Honor. 12 Q. Agent Lott, I would like to go through 13 each of these summary charts. 14 Ms. Roper, please publish 12D and zoom in. 15 Agent Lott, what does this show? 16 A. This is a summary of a funded EIDL application ending 2809 17 for a Ms. Ginell Adams, who is identified as Individual 1 in the 18 indictment, and similar to what we've just gone through in this 19 case, the SBA records show that $117,000.00 EIDL loan less a 20 hundred-dollar UCC filing fee was deposited to a Navy Federal 21 account ending 3255. 22 you can see the funded $117,000.00 again less the hundred-dollar 23 filing fee was deposited to that account, and immediately after, 24 a check was issued in the amount of $17,550.00. 25 followed that through to identify what that payment was in In the middle where you see the red box, We then Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 116 of 135 116 1 reference to, and it ties to this image here, which is an 2 official check from Navy Federal Credit Union from remitter 3 Ginell Adams Judson made payable to Kojie9, LLC in the amount of 4 $17,550.00. 5 Q. 6 Go to the next page, please, Ms. Roper. What does this show, this document show? 7 A. 8 the payment from Ms. Ginell Adams through to account ending 9 4752, which is a Regions Bank identified as Mr. Bernard 10 Okojie's. 11 Q. Who is that check made payable to? 12 A. It's made payable to Kojie9, LLC. 13 Q. I should ask you before, Agent Lott. 14 charts also show images of checks taken from Mr. Okojie's bank 15 records? 16 A. 17 source financial institution from the payor and then also showed 18 the deposited check image from Mr. Okojie's account. 19 Q. 20 Section D here is just a summary showing where we followed Yes, they do. Do these summary So we tried to show the image from the Ms. Roper, will you please pull up 12E. Agent Lott, what does that document show? 21 A. So this a funded EIDL application ending 0514, in 22 reference to Wanda Anderson, who is referenced as Individual 2 23 in the indictment. 24 It shows that SBA funded an EIDL loan in the amount of 25 $121,400.00 again less a hundred-dollar filing fee that was said Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 117 of 135 117 1 to be deposited to a bank account ending 3742. 2 We followed the flow of the funds and identified that they 3 were deposited to a Cadence bank account under the name of Wanda 4 Adams Anderson. 5 well as immediately withdrawal $121,300.00. We can see the flow of the money going in as 6 Subsequently, we identified that there was a deposit of 7 $18,210.00 deposited into Mr. Okojie's -- I believe that's a 8 Region's account 4728. 9 Q. 10 Page 2, Ms. Roper. What does that show, Agent Lott? 11 A. So this shows the image of the source of that deposit, 12 which was a cashier's check made payable to B&K Freight, LLC in 13 the amount of $18,210.00 payable from Ms. Wanda Anderson. 14 hard to see, but it's in the top left corner there. It's 15 And so it shows the remitter is Wanda Anderson, identifies 16 in the memo line that it was payable for a leasing payment, and 17 the check was endorsed by Mr. Bernard Okojie signing as B&K 18 Freight, LLC on the back. 19 Q. 20 Ms. Roper, will you please pull up 12F. What does this chart reflect, Agent Lott? 21 A. So this a summary for a funded EIDL application for a 22 Princewill Moneme. 23 ending 0534. 24 less a hundred-dollar filing fee, into his bank account ending 25 7667. This is in reference to EIDL application Mr. Moneme was funded a $117,000.00 EIDL loan, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 118 of 135 118 1 So we identified on 7/22/20 the transaction. You can see 2 identified as "SBAD Treas 310." 3 account, and then subsequently there is a withdrawal of 4 $14,055.00 and we followed that through and identified that that 5 was a check made payable to B&K Freight and ultimately Mr. 6 Okojie. 7 Q. 8 The funds are deposited to his Page 2, please, Ms. Roper. Does this show the receipt of the check into Mr. Okojie's 9 account? 10 A. Yes, it does. 11 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please publish 12G. 12 Can you please summarize this chart, Agent Lott. 13 A. Yes, this is a funded EIDL application ending 9966 in the 14 name of Ms. Katina Banks, who is identified as Individual 4 in 15 the indictment. 16 She was funded for a $123,400.00 EIDL loan less a 17 hundred-dollar filing fee which went into her bank account 18 ending 8445. 19 Once again, we followed the flow of the money into her 20 MidSouth Community financial institution. Identified on 7/29 we 21 see the red box indicating a withdrawal by check in the amount 22 of $18,495.00. 23 Q. Page 2, please, Ms. Roper. 24 A. And this is the source official check that was purchased 25 with those funds from her withdrawal. You can see it's made Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 119 of 135 119 1 payable to B&K Freight, LLC from a remitter being Ms. Katina L. 2 Banks, yes, Banks in the amount of $18,495.00, and once again 3 endorsed and signed on the back by Mr. Okojie. 4 Q. 5 Can you zoom out, Ms. Roper. Go to Page 3, please. And then does this page show the check being deposited 6 into Mr. Okojie's bank account? 7 A. Yes, it does. 8 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please publish 12H. 9 Can you summarize this chart please, Agent Lott. 10 A. 11 Ardell Chatman, who is identified as Individual 5 in the 12 indictment. You'll see this is reference to EIDL application 13 ending 4418. The SBA funded the loan in the amount of 14 $122,300.00 less a hundred-dollar filing fee that was deposited 15 into Mr. Chatman's account ending 4961. 16 deposited, we observed -- I believe on the next page. 17 Q. Page 2, please, Ms. Roper. 18 A. -- there was a withdrawal from his account in the amount 19 of $30,575.00 that was utilized to purchase a cashier's check 20 that was made payable to BK Freight, LLC and deposited into Mr. 21 Okojie's Regions bank account ending 4728. 22 Q. 23 Yes. This is a funded EIDL application in the name of Once the funds were Ms. Roper, will you please publish Government's 12I. Agent Lott, what about this one? 24 A. Similar summary, this time for Frentres Winding, who is 25 referenced as Individual 6 in the indictment. This is EIDL Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 120 of 135 120 1 application ending 1006. 2 $123,500.00 less a hundred-dollar filing fee that was deposited 3 into her bank account ending 3254. 4 funds were deposited, we observed a withdrawal in the amount of 5 $28,530.00. 6 Q. Page 2, please, Ms. Roper. 7 A. In the top image, I'm having a hard time seeing that. 8 this is a copy of a Wood Forest cashier's check made payable to 9 Kojie9, LLC, this time in the amount of $15,510.00. 10 Q. 11 reflect that check being deposited into it? 12 A. Yes, they do. 13 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please publish Government's 12J. 14 She was funded a loan in the amount of Once we identified those So And do the Region bank records for Mr. Okojie's account What about this chart, Agent Lott? 15 A. 16 Johnson, who is identified as Individual 7 in the indictment. 17 She received a SBA loan in amount of $122,500.00 less a 18 hundred-dollar filing fee. 19 This a funded EIDL application ending 4256 for Lenora Those funds were observed going into her account ending 20 9201. 21 EIDL loan was deposited, and then on August 7th, 2020 or, excuse 22 me, August 7, 2020 -- no, I'm sorry, the funds were deposited 23 122,400.00 on 8/7 and then subsequently withdrawn on 8/11. 24 Q. 25 Records from her Pike National Bank confirmed that that Page 2, please, Ms. Roper. What does Page 2 reflect, Agent Lott? Can you zoom in at Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 121 of 135 121 1 the top, please, Ms. Roper? 2 A. 3 from Ms. Johnson's account ending 4683 and on the same day a 4 cashier's check payable to B&K Freight, LLC was issued in the 5 amount of $15,375.00. 6 Q. 7 deposited into one of Mr. Okojie's bank accounts? 8 A. Yes, they do. 9 Q. Finally, Agent Lott, let's look at 12K. 10 you please publish 12K. 11 I observed on August 11th, 2020, $28,395.00 was withdrawn And do these documents also reflect that check being Ms. Roper, will Can you summarize this one, Agent Lott? 12 A. Yes. This was a funded EIDL application, ending in 4028 13 for Mr. Charlie Bey who is identified as Individual 8 in the 14 indictment. 15 a hundred-dollar filing fee that was deposited into his account 16 ending 7241. 17 Q. He received an SBA-funded loan of $119,300.00 minus Can you zoom back out, Ms. Roper. 18 Were you able to trace that loan money into his account 19 and then portions of it going out in a check made payable to 20 Okojie or one of his businesses? 21 A. Yes, we were. 22 Q. Is that reflected here in these documents? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. Agent Lott, for each of the eight individuals identified 25 in the indictment, were you able to trace the deposit of EIDL You will see the withdrawal made for $17,745.00. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 122 of 135 122 1 loans in their name to their bank accounts? 2 A. Yes, I was. 3 Q. Were you able to trace checks being made, cut out of those 4 EIDL loan proceeds and made payable to the defendant or one of 5 his businesses? 6 A. Yes, I was. 7 Q. And were you able to see those checks being deposited into 8 one of three bank accounts in one of the defendant's businesses' 9 names or in his name? 10 A. Yes, I was. 11 Q. I'm going to ask you about one more summary chart, Agent 12 Lott. 13 Did you also review another EIDL loan file in the name of 14 Angela Lovelady? 15 A. Yes, I did. 16 Q. Did you obtain bank records for her bank account? 17 A. We did not. 18 Q. But did you identify a cashier's check for Ms. Lovelady 19 that deposited into the Regions B&K Freight account that you've 20 been speaking about? 21 A. Yes, I did. 22 Q. Again, were those records all voluminous? 23 A. Yes, they were. 24 Q. Did you create a summary chart showing certain loan and 25 loan proceeds data from Ms. Lovelady's loan file and the B&K Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 123 of 135 123 1 Freight records? 2 A. Yes, I did. 3 Q. Does it present that information in a way that's easy to 4 understand? 5 A. Yes. 6 MS. STANLEY: At this time, Your Honor, we would move to 7 admit Exhibit 12L. 8 THE COURT: Any objection? 9 MR. OSSICK: No. 10 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. 11 Q. 12 13 (By Ms. Stanley) Thank you, Your Honor. Ms. Roper, will you please pull up Government's Exhibit 12L. 14 What does this document show, Agent Lott? 15 A. This is another summary chart identifying Ms. Angela 16 Lovelady. 17 She received an SBA EIDL loan in the amount of $123,000.00 less 18 a $100.00 filing fee that was shown be deposited to her bank 19 account ending 1458. 20 Q. 21 money? 22 A. 23 $18,435.00, and this screenshot here is a deposit into Mr. 24 Okojie's account reflected on 8/13 in the amount of $33,810.00, 25 of which that consists of two, two checks you can see -- scroll It looks like this is EIDL application ending 5646. Did she also take, get a cashier's check out of that loan Yes. We observed a cashier's check in the amount of Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 124 of 135 124 1 back up. 2 So you can see on this bottom, this is an -- essentially a 3 deposit slip. You can see there's a total amount deposited of 4 $33,810.00 of which there is a cash or cashier's check deposit 5 of $18,435.00 in addition to another check unrelated that was in 6 the amount of $15,375.00. 7 And if you scroll down to that last page, that's where we 8 identified the cashier's check made payable to B&K Freight, LLC 9 from Angela Lovelady in the amount of that $18,435.00 payment. 10 Q. 11 on the front of the check? 12 A. 13 Angela Lovelady, it's identified as being purchased for truck 14 leasing. 15 Q. 16 Is there a memo for this check reflected in that red box Yes. In that red box next to the purchaser's name, Ms. You can take that down, Ms. Roper. Thank you. Agent Lott, did about $1,890,400.00 in loan proceeds go 17 out the door for these nine applications? 18 A. Yes, they did. 19 Q. And did about $165,935.00 of that go to the defendant? 20 A. Yes, it did. 21 Q. Finally, Agent Lott, I want to ask you about how some of 22 the loan money was spent in this case. 23 When you reviewed the bank records for the two business 24 accounts that you talked about earlier, the Kojie9 and B&K 25 Freight, LLC? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 125 of 135 125 1 A. Right. 2 Q. Are those the business names on those two accounts? 3 A. That's correct. 4 Q. When you reviewed those records, did you see any evidence 5 of business expenses? 6 A. 7 majority of deposits in those accounts were sourced either 8 through SBA loans under the name of Mr. Okojie or his purported 9 businesses or related to deposits from the individuals he 10 assisted with getting their loans. 11 No, I didn't. I observed that the vast overwhelming The other -- no, I'm sorry -- the other minimal deposit 12 activity I observed was things such as merchant refunds, say if 13 he went shopping and returned something at a store, a couple 14 hundred dollars here and there. 15 Q. 16 coming in? 17 A. No, I did not. 18 Q. Did you see any evidence of money going out to fund a 19 business? 20 A. I did not. 21 Q. What kinds of things was that money being spent on? 22 A. So we observed various spending, lots of cash withdrawals, 23 money being used to finance a down payment on a Mercedes Benz 24 vehicle, shopping. 25 4200-ish dollars in Gianni Versace for purchases. Did you see any evidence of payroll either going out or I believe I calculated approximately We identified Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 126 of 135 126 1 for moccasins, bracelets, steel-frame sunglasses, sports shoes 2 and things of that nature, just various other expenditures that 3 I would classify as personal in nature, things like convenience 4 stores, fast foods, Nike retailers, just general shopping. 5 Q. Did you obtain records from Versace? 6 A. Yes, we did. 7 Q. I'm going to show you what's been marked as Government's 8 Exhibit 13, Agent Lott. 9 me know if you recognize it. 10 A. Yes, I do. 11 Q. Are these the records you obtained from Versace? 12 A. Yes, they are. 13 MS. STANLEY: If you will review this briefly and let We would move to enter these records, 14 Government's 13, Your Honor, under 902 as self-authenticating. 15 Notice has been provided to the Defense. 16 THE COURT: Any objection, Mr. Ossick? 17 MR. OSSICK: No. 18 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. 19 Q. (By Ms. Stanley) Again, approximately how much money 20 based on these records was spent at Versace? 21 A. Based on these records, it was approximately $4200.00. 22 Q. What was the time period for those purchases? 23 A. I believe it was August through Octoberish 2020. 24 Q. Could you see those transactions on Mr. Okojie's bank 25 accounts? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 127 of 135 127 1 A. Yes, I could. 2 Q. Ms. Roper, will you please publish 13 Page 6. 3 And what kinds of things was he buying at Versace? 4 A. 5 back from Versace, we see various receipts supporting moccasins, 6 sports shoes, metal-frame sunglasses, bracelets. 7 Q. Is this one of those receipts? 8 A. Yes, it is. 9 Q. What's the total amount purchased on this day? 10 A. The total applied to a Visa card was $2,022.84. 11 Q. You can take that down, Ms. Roper. 12 Based on the receipts and the supporting records we got You mentioned that Mr. Okojie also spent some of the loan 13 money, SBA money, on purchase of a Mercedes vehicle? 14 A. That's correct. 15 Q. Did you obtain records related to that purchase? 16 A. Yes, we did. 17 Q. Where did you obtain them from? 18 A. We identified from a review of the Regions financial 19 records, we identified initially the $2,000.00 which were all 20 made payable to Leith, Inc., I believe, which we identified was 21 a Mercedes Benz dealer out of Raleigh, North Carolina. 22 followed up, obtained records from Leith, Inc. who provided us 23 with a bill of sale identifying the purchase of a Mercedes Benz 24 vehicle of approximately $50,000.00, of which a $2,000.00 down 25 payment was made and a loan was taken for the rest. We then Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 128 of 135 128 1 Q. 2 Agent Lott, I'm going to show you Exhibit 14. Your Honor, I apologize, may I approach the witness? 3 THE COURT: Yes. 4 Q. (By Ms. Stanley) Are those the records you obtained from 5 that dealership in North Carolina? 6 A. Yes, they are. 7 MS. STANLEY: 8 under 902. 9 previously. Your Honor, we move to admit Government 14 Notice that has been provided to the Defense 10 THE COURT: Any objection, Mr. Ossick? 11 MR. OSSICK: No. 12 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. 13 Q. 14 Page 3. 15 (By Ms. Stanley) Ms. Roper, will you please publish 14 What kind of car did the defendant buy, Agent Lott? 16 A. According to the records, let's see, I believe it was a 17 2015 Mercedes Benz. 18 Q. Did he get a loan for that car? 19 A. Yes, he did. 20 Q. From where? 21 A. From Regions Bank. 22 Q. Based on your review of those loan documents as well as 23 these documents from the dealership, do you know what the total 24 cash price was for the car? 25 A. Yes. I believe you see it on this screenshot kind of the Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 129 of 135 129 1 middle right. 2 cash price of vehicle $49,316.00 and then the balance due at the 3 bottom after all the fees and everything is added is a total of 4 $56,347.92. 5 Q. 6 personal information on this bill of sale? 7 A. Yes, it is. 8 Q. Will you please zoom in at the top, Ms. Roper. 9 So you can see at the top there it identifies Will you zoom back out, Ms. Roper. Is the defendant's Is the defendant's name listed here, Agent Lott? 10 A. Yes, it is. 11 Q. What is the address listed on this document? 12 A. 617 Addison Way, McDonough, Georgia. 13 Q. Did Mr. Okojie register this car with the State of 14 Georgia? 15 A. Yes, he did. 16 Q. Was his driver's license also provided to the dealership? 17 A. Yes, it was. 18 Q. Is that reflected in the records? 19 A. Yes, it is. 20 Q. You can take that down. 21 Robinhood? 22 A. Yes, I did. 23 Q. What is Robinhood? 24 A. My understanding is Robinhood is essentially an online 25 platform that can be used to purchase stock and crypto currency. Did you also obtain records from Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 130 of 135 130 1 Q. 2 of the SBA loan money through Robinhood? 3 A. Yes, it does. 4 Q. How much money approximately? 5 A. Thousands of dollars. 6 Q. Can you see his name in transactions through Robinhood 7 reflected on the bank records? 8 A. 9 account identified withdrawals payable to Robinhood specifically 10 identified with Mr. Bernard Okojie's name. 11 trace those same payments from Regions directly to deposits made 12 into Robinhood. 13 Q. 14 Exhibit 15. 15 Did those records show that Mr. Okojie also invested some Yes, you can. My -- my observations of the Regions I was also able to I'm going to show you what's been marked as Government's Your Honor, may I approach? 16 THE COURT: Yes. 17 Q. (By Ms. Stanley) Folder contains a disk marked as 18 Government's Exhibit 15. 19 Agent Lott? 20 A. Yes, I have. 21 Q. What does that disk have on it? 22 A. This is a disk with voluminous records received from 23 Robinhood. 24 Q. Did you sign and date that disk? 25 A. Yes, I did. Have you seen that disk before today, Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 131 of 135 131 1 MS. STANLEY: Your Honor, we would move to admit 2 Government's Exhibit 15 again under Rule 902. 3 provided to the Defense. 4 THE COURT: Any objection, Mr. Ossick? 5 MR. OSSICK: No. 6 THE COURT: Admitted without objection. (By Ms. Stanley) Notice has been 7 Q. All right, Agent Lott, when you reviewed 8 Mr. Okojie's First Citizens bank account, and is that the third 9 of the three bank accounts you've been speaking about earlier? 10 A. That's correct. 11 Q. When you reviewed that bank account, did you see any 12 evidence of business expense? 13 A. No, I did not. 14 Q. What kind of spending did you see? 15 A. So first I observed on the deposit side the deposits were 16 vastly made up of again either SBA loans under Mr. Okojie's name 17 or his businesses, with the exception of there were a few tax 18 refunds from the State of Georgia and the IRS. 19 Q. And what kinds of things was he spending that money on? 20 A. Very similar spending habits as I observed in Regions, a 21 lot of spending of a personal nature, identified additional 22 purchases from Versace, payments made at Mercedes dealerships, 23 fast foods, cash withdrawals, luxury spending. 24 Q. Were there purchases at something called OnlyFans? 25 A. Yes, there were. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 132 of 135 132 1 Q. About how many? 2 A. Offhand, I recall various transactions. 3 least three statements' worth. There were at 4 MR. OSSICK: Nothing further, Your Honor. 5 THE COURT: Mr. Ossick, cross-examination. 6 CROSS-EXAMINATION 7 BY MR. OSSICK: 8 Q. 9 May I ask you to bring up I think it's 12L, please. Just want to clarify something with you. I believe this 10 was -- you just saw this exhibit. 11 A. Yes, sir. 12 Q. And this you indicated was a, on the checking credit 13 portion, you traced it back to being part of the proceeds from 14 one of these loans? 15 A. That is correct. 16 Q. And on the receipt, it says it's cash? 17 A. Correct. 18 Q. That's not currency, though, is it? 19 A. I'm not sure I follow. 20 Q. Do you see 12L? 21 A. Yes, sir. 22 Q. Do you see it was outlined in red? 23 A. Yes, sir. 24 Q. I believe you identified it on direct? 25 A. Yes, sir. Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 133 of 135 133 1 Q. You indicated that that was -- represented the check from 2 the portion of the loan? 3 A. That's correct. 4 Q. But it was a cashier's check? 5 A. That's correct. 6 Q. So it wasn't cash; it was a cashier's check? 7 A. I can't speak to how the bank classified it on the deposit 8 slip. 9 Q. 10 tracing the funds, but now you can't when you don't know whether 11 it's the cash or the cashier's check? 12 A. 13 payment of 18,435.00 paid by Ms. Angela Lovelady via the 14 cashier's check. 15 $33,810.00 of which is split up of a deposit of 18,435.00 which 16 matches the amount and the timing of the payment from Ms. 17 Lovelady as well as an additional $15,375.00. 18 Q. 19 cashier's check? 20 A. 21 identified a cashier's check as cash on the specific form, but 22 again my analysis is just to show that that fund was deposited 23 into his account. Didn't you say that? You can tell that it's the cashier check when you're I can speak to the timing of the flow. I can see the I can see the deposit on 8/13 for the total of And on the 18,435.00, it says it's cash rather than a Again, I can't identify how they classified it, if they 24 MR. OSSICK: Thank you. 25 THE COURT: All right, any brief redirect? Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 134 of 135 134 1 MS. STANLEY: 2 THE COURT: Briefly, Your Honor. Yes. 3 REDIRECT EXAMINATION 4 BY MS. STANLEY: 5 Q. 6 2, please. If you will pull up Government Exhibit 12, Ms. Roper, Page 7 Agent Lott, does this show that a cashier's check in the 8 amount of $18,435.00 made out to B&K Freight, LLC from Angela 9 Lovelady was deposited into a Regions bank account in the name 10 of the defendant? 11 A. 12 endorsement, signature of Mr. Bernard Okojie, and then at the 13 bottom, I show the source of where we obtained this image, and 14 it was directly from the Regions 4728 bank account of Mr. 15 Bernard Okojie. 16 Q. 17 on that deposit slip? 18 A. That's correct. You can see on the top image the And the amount on that cashier's check matches the amount That is correct. 19 MS. STANLEY: Nothing further. 20 THE COURT: 21 MS. STANLEY: 22 THE COURT: 23 MS. STANLEY: 24 THE COURT: 25 Well, ladies and gentlemen it is time to break. Any objection to this witness being excused? No, Your Honor. Is he going to remain at counsel table? Yes, Your Honor. You may step down. It's Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC Document 108 Filed 04/30/23 Page 135 of 135 135 1 been a full day. Timewise, we've made excellent progress in the 2 case. 3 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, so do as you did during lunch and pay 4 respect to your fellow jurors and be in the room so we can start 5 as promptly to 9:00 a.m. as possible. As I mentioned earlier today, we will start promptly at 6 Remember the familiar admonition. Don't make up your mind. Don't talk about the 7 case. Don't do independent research. 8 Don't listen to anything in the media about the case. 9 that, let's rise for this jury. 10 (The jury exits the courtroom.) 11 THE COURT: 12 until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. 13 With All right, counsel, we will be in recess (Proceeding concluded at 5:18 p.m.) 14 CERTIFICATION 15 16 I certify that the foregoing is a true and correct 17 transcript of the stenographic record of the above-mentioned 18 matter. 19 20 22 __________________________________ 04/26/2023 23 Debra Gilbert, Court Reporter Date 24 25
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