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Crim Flsd Unknown Us V Damion Mckenzie Docx Complaint - Us V Damion Mckenzie
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A criminal complaint in United States v. Damion Mckenzie in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, dated August 3, 2020, with a 13-page supporting affidavit by an IRS Criminal Investigation special agent. It charges wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy and attempt to commit wire and bank fraud. The affidavit states that the defendant sought a PPP loan for his company, Five Plus, using falsified bank statements and IRS Forms 941 prepared by a cooperating source, and referred other applicants in return for kickbacks. It states that the conspirators planned or prepared at least 90 fraudulent applications worth more than $24 million, with approximately 42 funded for approximately $17.4 million. According to the affidavit, the Five Plus forms showed quarterly payroll of almost $300,000 for 10 employees, and a bank processor rejected the application by letter.
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A()91(Rev 08/û9) Crl mjnalComplalnt U NITED STATES D ISTRICT COURT forthe Southel' n DistrictofFlorida United StatesofAmerica ) ) V. E casexo.g p -p'ygy ) Damion Mckenzie! v- ) ) flf gèndanl. . %l CRIM INAL COM PLAINT l.thecomplainantin thiscase, statethatthe fbllowing istrueto the bestofmy knowledgeand belief. Onoraboutthedatets)ot' M@y 15-JM,yy,.. ;-0.y. O . $p. gt .hvm-.., . Dislrictof . Fjorida ....... .... in thecounty of .t bedefendamts)violaled: CrWcSection ,..... Broward ., inthe OFimseDescriplion 18U.S.C.jj 1343and2 18U.S.C.jj 1344and2 W ire Fraud BankFraud Conspiracy/Attemptto Com m i tW ire and Bank Fraud 18 U.S.C.1 1349 Thiscrim inalcomplaintisbased t ' m thesefacls. SEE AU ACHED AFFIDAVIT. Troy T. Walker Aug 3, 2020 ' W.Continuedontheattachedsheet . 4 A t'' * ()l ' N/7/(?#?(fA?/'sxï-jrl .l '; ..llp/rk, 1 , k / 11 /!$k.ë i,;741.41k1 k ,4 , 14,, 1,,,,l,i...!k#-n...iv.6 ;! lE lr: p x i ï 141 :) 1(7 44 ! . 4,.: EE ;l ;l !E ! p ! r!t I R C I ... t .L .,. .. ... .... S ....n ..... ' ...... . . ...... ?:rit,t( ':/i,llttlitr,,, f/tk//t- .. ... ................ Attested îo by theapplicantinaccordancc withthe requirementsofFed. R.Crim.P.4.lbytelephone. 1 .1 . 8 .7 . -:8 ! :-d t :;p l r :: ' a, r e: ....,........ lt itlgif'yî 'i$.:tt(4l1/rt> - CityantlState: Ft Lau,de #abelFlo.f-#p ....l .- ,,.,........: .... . p.ta..U. t.S,z M--Mgl Hons-p,,#t..rick. M HJ - ! #tr pteJudge jy;gg yyyuu,gy ss ..... - . ... A FFID AW T 1,M ichaelBenivegna,being firstduly sworn,hereby depose and state asfollows: IN TRO D U CU O N A ND A GEN T BAC K G RO UND I make this Affidavit in support of a crim inal com plaint charging DAM ION MCKENZIE (ûEM CKENZIE'' or tdDefendant''), with wire fraud, bank fraud, attempt and conspiracytocornmitwirefraudandbankfraud,inviolationof18 U.S.C.jj1343,1344,l349, and 2,from on oraboutM ay 15,2020to atleaston orabotltJuly 2,2020,in the Southern D istrict ofFlorida,andelsewhere(theSç-l-argetOffenses''). Defendant has participated in a schem e to obtain by fraud m illions of dollars in forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (tSPPP'') and other government programs,conspiringwithapersonnow cooperatingwiththeinvestigation(CSCHS2'')andothers. Defendant soughta fraudulentPPP loan forhis owm com pany,Five Pluslnvestm ent Group LLC (ilFive Plus''),with CHS 2 providing falsified documents and subm itting the application on D efendant's l half. Defendantalso conspired to subm ita num ber ofadditionalfraudulentPPP loan applications for othercom paniesby recruiting otherconfkdemte loan applicants, in orderto receive kickbacks from those confedem tes. To intlate the size of these PPP loans, and the corresponding kickbacks,the conspirators relied on a variety of false statem ents,including by subm itting falsified bank statements and payrolltax form s. Forexample,the conspirators used nearly identicalversions ofthe sam e fabricated bank statem entssrecycled in the PPP applications form ultiple com paniesw ith m inorchanges. The conspirators in the scheme planned or prepared at least 90 fraudulent applications,mostofw hich were subm itted. Based on the evidence investigators have reviewed to date,CH S 2,Defendant,and theirco-conspiratorsapplied forPPP loansthataretogetherworth more than $24 million dollars,with atleastapproximately 42 ofthose loansapproved and funded foratotalofapproximately $17.4 million. Certain ofthose loan recipientsthenwireda kickback of varying am ounts,often approxim ately 25% of the fraudulent loan proceeds, to an account controlled by CH S 2. lam a SpecialA gentwith the United StatesDepartm entofThe Treasury,lnternal RevenueService,CriminalInvestigation(:$lRS-CI'')andhavebeenemployedinthiscapacitysince October2016. lam presently assigned to the M iam iField Office. M y dutiesasa SpecialA gent includetheinvestigationofpossiblecriminalviolationsofthelnternalRevenueCode(Title26of theUnitedStatesCode),theBankSecrecyAct(Title31oftheUnitedStatesCode),andtheMoney Laundering Statutes (Title l8 of the United States Code).I graduated from the Criminal InvestigatorTraining Program atthe FederalLaw Enforcem entTraining Centerin April20l7 and the Special A gent lnvestigative Techniques program at the N ational Crim inal Investigation Training A cadem y in July 20l7. ln these tw o program s,I sttldied a variety of 1aw enforcement tactics and crim inalinvestigatorttchniques rtlating to tax and ûnancialcrim es.Sinct becom ing an IRS-CI SpecialAgent,lhave personally investigated and assisted in investigations relating to the lnternalRevenue Law sand financialcrim es. Recently,lhave been assigned to work w ith the U.S.Departm entofJustice and other 1aw enforcementpartners,including the FederalBureau of Investigation and the Sm allBusiness Adm inistl-ation Offk e of lnspector Genem l,to investigate possible fraud associated with the stim ulus and econom ic assistance program s created by the federalgovernm entin response to the COVID-19 program . The facts in thisA ffsdavit come from my personalobservations,my training and experience,and inform ation obtained from othermembersof1aw enforcem entand from witnesses. Page 2 of13 ThisA ffidavit is intended to show m erely thatthere issufficientprobable cause and doesnotset forth allofmy know ledge aboutthism atter.l PR O BA BLE CAUSE TheJv /c/leck Protection Pros am TheCoronavirusAid,Relief,andEconomicSecurity (iICARES'')Actisafedeml law enacted in oraround M arch 2020 and designed to provide em ergency financialassistance to the m illions of A mericans who are suffering the econom ic effects caused by the CO VlD-19 pandemic.One sourceofreliefprovided bytheCARES Actwastheauthorizmtion ofup to $349 billionintbrgivableloanstosmallbusinessesforjobretentionandcertainotherexpenses,through a prog am referredtoasthePPP.Inoraround April2020,Congressauthorized over$300billion in additionalPPP funding. ln order to obtain a PPP loan, a qualifying btlsiness must subm it a PPP loan application, which is signed by an authorized representative of the business. The PPP loan application requires the business(through its authorized representative) to acknowledge the program rulesand m ake certain affirmative certitk ations in orderto be eligible to obtain the PPP loan. In thePPP Ioan application,thesmallbusiness(through itsauthorizedrepresentative)must state,amongotherthings,its:(a)averagemonthlypayrollexpenses;and(b)numberofemployees. These figuresare used to calculate the am ountofm oney the sm allbusiness is eligible to receive under the PPP. ln addition, busintsses applying for a PPP loan m ust provide docum entation show ing theirpayrollexpenses. The conductand charges described in thisA ffidavit are partofa larger investigation that is being conducted in this D istrict and elsewhere. A s a result,not allnum bered sources and anonymous individualsand entities are described in every filing. Ihave included in thisAffidavit only those individualsand entities1have deemed necessary to explain the particularfactssetforth here. Page3 of 13 8. A PPP loan application m ustbe processed by a participating lender. lfa PPP loan application isapproved,the participating lenderfunds the PPP loan using itsown monies, which are 100% guaranteedby the SmallBusinessAdm inistration (dçSBA'').Datafrom theapplication, including information aboutthe borrow er,the totalam ountofthe loan,and the listed num berof em ployees,istransm itted by the lenderto the SBA in the course ofprocessing the loan. PPP loan proceeds mustbe used by the businesson certain perm issible expensespayrollcosts,intereston mortgages,rent,and utilities. The PPP allow sthe interestand principal on the PPP loan to be entirely forgiven ifthe business spendsthe Ioan proceedson these expense item sw ithin a designated period oftim e afterreceiving the proceedsand usesa certain anzountof the PPP loan proceeds on payrollexpenses. The Schem e to Obtain FraudulentPPP Loans 10. On oraboutM ay l3,2020,Phillip J.Augtlstin (çbAugustin'')and CHS 2 worked togetherto subm ita fraudulentPPP loan application on behalfofa com pany owned by A ugustin. Augustin submitted a PPP loan of$84,515toa federally insured bank (hereinafterGsBank 3'5), through a third-party company processor (hereinafter ççBank Processor 1'').2 The application included bank statementsthatare clearforgeries,and CHS 2 hasadm itted thatthe application was based on docum entsthathe fatsified tbrA ugustin.3 2 A11 banks referenced in this AfGdavit are insured by the Federal D eposit lnsurance Corporation. 3 On June 25,2020,investigatorsarrested CH S 2 and anotherperson now cooperating with theinvestigation(tSCHS39')and executed searchwarrantsattheirresidences.Followinghisarrest, CH S 2 chose to cooperate with the investigation in the hope ofobtaining favorable consideration in connection with hispending charges. CHS 2 w as interviewed on thatday,and hascontinued to cooperate w ith the investigation afterobtaining counsel. M ostof his statements related herein have been corroborated by recordsobtained from third parties or recovered from his electronic devices. Page 4 of13 1l. Follow ingthe successofthatinitialfraudulentPPP application,A ugustin and CH S 2 began to work on obtaining m ore and larger PPP loans fbr Augustin's associates and others, generally forseveralhundredthousanddollarsforeach loan,up toasmuchasapproximately$1.24 m illion. Based on the evidence investigators have reviewed so far, CH S 2 and Augustin collectively coordinatedapplicationsforPPP loansthataretogetherworth morethan $24 million dollars.Theevidencealso showsmanymorePPP loanswereattempted butrejectedbybanksor their partners,or w ere planned and prepared, but not subm itted before CH S 2's arrest. The evidence suggests that alI or nearly all of those loan applications were fraudulent, including Defendant'sloan application and the applicationsDefendantorchestrated by refeningadditional confederatesto the conspiracy. Investigators have obtained m any other PPP loan applications that CHS 2 has adm itted he subm itted aspartofthisschem e,based on falsified docum ents,and have also obtained draftdocum entsused orintended to be used inthose applicationsorothers. These applicationsa1l follow the sam e pattern of fraud- m any w ith obviously counterfeit February 2020 bank statements,and allwith fabricated IRS Forms 94l (titled,CtEmployer's Quarterly FederalTax Return'')withthesameindiciaoffraudfound in Augustin'sinitialapplication butgenerally with even larger inflated payrollnum bers,thus yielding m uch larger loans.4 CH S 2 has explained to investigatorsthatthe figures in the Form s941 were the productofa form ula thatallow ed him to startw ith a targetloan am ount,and then çûback into''thepayrollfigureson theform . Ht explained how he used figuresthatwould produce an average m onthly payrollfor2019 that, when m ultiplied by 2.5,would yield the requested loan amount. ln turn,the num ber ofem ployees reported was 4 Some loan applications also included voided checksthatappear to be falsitsed, such asa purportedBank5checkthatappearstohavebeenproducedonacomputerand,asthesubjectline reads,itconverted to PDF,''ratherthan a scan ofan authentic check. Page 5 of13 chosen based on tk tionalpayrollfigures,chosen to avoid an average employee salary thatm ight raise suspicion. CH S 2 has also explained that he tried to use bank statem ents show ing that the company had a large balance. Because so few companies had such a statem ent,and likely also because itw aseasierthan keeping track oftheirtrue statelnents,CH S 2 repeatedly subm itted nearreplicasofthe same falsified bank statements.ln particular,CH S 2 appearsto have recycled one statementeach from Bank 1,Bank 6,and Bank 7. In recycling a statem ent, CHS 2 generally changed only the account nunlber and the accotlnt holder's nam e and address,such that each version ofthe statem enthad identicalfiguresand line itemsthroughoutthe statem ent. 14. A review ofrecordsforbank accountscontrolled by CH S 2 atBank 5 confirm CH S 2's adm issionsthat he received num erouskickbacks,often ofapproxim ately 25% ofthe am ount ofthe loans,and thathe regularly w ired A ugustin a share ofthatkickback in the early stagesof the schem e. CH S 2 explained thatthey were doing so many loans by the end of M ay thathe changed course,instead w iring larger lump sum s.collecting Augustin's shares of the kickbacks formultiple loansin one w ire. Investigators are stillreceiving and analyzing records,butbased on a prelim inary analysis,asofJuly 24,2020,investigatorshad identified a totalof$2,367,765.82 in transfersto CH S 2'saccounts from entitiesthat each obtained a sizzble PPP loan and thatwere identified in the PPP filesseized from CH S 2'sand anotherco-conspirator'sresidences,asdescribed below orfrom individualsassociated w ith those entities. The PPP loans identified above as im plicated in the foregoing kickback paym ents to CH S 2 representonly a fraction of the overallschem e. ln executing search wanants atthe respective residences of CH S 2 and CHS 3,federalagents found stacksofpaperprinted outand Page 6 of13 organized by entity,containing an 'sintake form ,''fabricated Form s 941,or both foreach entity. The intake fbrms contained fields for the information needed to fabricate the docum entsand fill outother aspectsofthe PPP application:identifying inform ation aboutthe ow ner and company, aswellasbank accountinform ation forreceivingthe Ioan.A section atthe end m arked (IBELOW IS OFFICE U SE ON LY''included blank fieldsforthe iix umberofEmployees,''tsM onthly Payroll Expense,''and tSSBA Loan Pre-ApprovalAm ount.'' Between CH S 2's and CH S 3's residences, investigatorsseized paperfilesforPPP loan applicationsforapproxim ately 80 differententities. Data obtained fron: the SBA show ed additional PPP loan applications from additional entities that text m essage and em ailrecords show had been referred to CH S 2 by Defendantorotherindividuals. TheFraudulentPPP Loan to Defendant'sC' tavlplap:Five#/Iz, ç 18. AccordingtoFlorida'sDivisionofCorporationswebsite(%ssunbiz''),FivePluswas incorporated in 20 l8 w ith its listed principaladdress in M iam i,Florida. M CKEN ZIE is listed on Sunbiz asone offive m anagersofFive Plus w ith a separate address in M iam iGardens,Florida. According to separate bank records,on or about M ay 26, 2020, M CKENZIE opened a bank accountin the nam e Five Plusand listed him selfasthe sole signatory on the account. 19. From on oraboutM ay 16,2020 through on oraboutM ay l9,2020,an application and supporting documents fora PPP loan w ere electronically subm itted on behalfofFive Plusto Bank 2 through Bank Processor 1.The submitted documents kw luded,among othtrthings:(1) purported Forms941forallfourquartersof2019;(2)acompanybank statementforFivePlus; and (3)twoblank checks. 20. Thepurported Forms94lshow quarterlypayrollofalmost$300,000each quarter, for 10 em ployees. Each w as signed by hand w ith the name ttDam ion M cKenzie''asthe com pany Page 7 of13 ow ner,and also listed M CKEN ZIE asthe com pany'sdesignee and as a %%paid Preparer,''though he is nota paid tax preparer. The Five Plus Form s 941 fbllow the sam e style and pattern asthe m any otherfalsified Form s94lthatCH S 2,described above,acknow ledged thathe helped create and subm itin the course ofthe schem e,including in the indicia offraud.s IR S recordsshow that Five Plus did not,in fact,file any Folnns 941 forany quarterof2019 orthe firstquarterof 2020, and Florida Departm ent of Revenue records show that Five Plus did not report any wages or employeesforthatsame period. The purported company bank statem ent,w hich was subm itted in electronic,PDF form at,is a clearforgery. First,the statem entisnotfrom Five Plus'sbank. Second,according to the docum ent'sfile dtprom rties,''the statem entw ascreated using t'PDFFILLER ,''a program used to editelectronic PDF Gles,and wasiûmodified using i'Ikxt.'' 22. ln a letterdated June 2,2020,Bank Processorl inform ed M CK EN ZIE thathisPPP loan application wasrejected. The following reason wasstated on the letterfortherejection: i'Unable to verify Applicant's identity from docum ents subm itted ordiscrepancies in inform ation subm itted.'' 5 A snoted above,M CK ENZIE waslisted asb0th ownerand paid preparer.D ozensofother Forms 941 subm itted in this scheme evidence the sam e error. CH S 2 has adm itted thatthese documentssharethatfeaturebecause hemisunderstood the form,and he (orsomeone following hisinstructions)prepared alloftheForms941atissue. Thecontentofthe formsalso indicate falsification. A llfour quarterly form s are nearly identical,and the four form s for Five Plus are identical,down to thepenny,in reported figures.They also evidence apattern ofpayrollspending thatislikely false:each ofthe quartersshow sincreases from the firstto second to third month of the quarter. Foreach identicalform ,the sam e figuresare reported forthe tax liability incurred in thefirstmonth ofeach quarter,the same figure forthe second month ofeach quarter(increased from thefirstmonth),and thesameGgureforthethird monthofeach quarter(increased from the second month). The resultisthatthe company reportsa perfectly rem ating cycle ofascending payrollcostsw ithin each quarter,dropping dow n again atthe startofthe nextquarter. CHS 2 has explained thatthiswasdue to a form ula he used,allocating differentpercentagesofthe quarterly payrolltax liability to each month ofeach quarter. Page 8 of 13 CHS 2 Confl -rmedtoLaw EnforcementthattheFive#/1u PppLoanApplication PZ W, N Fraudulent 23. lnvestigators spoke w ith CHS 2 aboutM CKEN ZIE and the Five Plus PPP loan. CHS 2 stated thathe had m etM CKEN ZIE through A ugustin. According to CH SZ,the three of them had discussed M CKEN ZIE'S PPP loan, as well as M CKEN ZIE'S referrals, for which M CK ENZIE would receive a sm allcut. As stated above,CH S 2 and A ugustin had already agreed to share the 25% kickback paym entsthatCH S 2 would usually receive from referrals,including from M CKEN ZIE'Sreferrals. 24. A s to the Five Plus PPP loan,CH S 2 confirm ed that the loan application w as fraudulent.CHS2 statedthathe:(1)createdforM CKENZIE anonlineaccountforFivePluswith Bank Processor 1;(2)created and submitted the fake Five Plusbank statement;and (3)created and subm itted the false Form s 941. According to CHS 2,however,he em ailed the Form s 941to M CKENZIE unsigned,andthenMCKENZIE tmailedtheformsbacktohim withsignatures.(As described below ,1have reviewed em ails that appearto corroborate CHS 2's description of this emailexchange.) 25. AccordingtoCHS2,MCKENZIE'SPPP loanapplicationwasultimatelyrejected. IP session records from Bank Processor l corroborate CH S 2's statementthathe assisted w ith the subm ission oftht Five Plus loan application. Bank Processor1's IP recordsfor thatloanapplicationshow thatacomputerwithanIPaddress(endingin 170)associatedwithCHS 2'sresidence in Brow ard County,Florida,logged into the Five Plusloan accountasearly asM ay 16,2020. The session recordsalso revealsubsequentloginsby the same IP address(ending in l70),aswellasby acomputerassociatedwiththeBrowardCountyresidenceofoneofAugustin's associates,and by mobiledevices.Oneofthostmobiledevices(with an IP addrtssingending in Page 9 of 13 250)logged into the Five Plus loan accountasearly as M ay 16,2020,and,according to bank records,also accessed M CKEN ZIE'Spersonalbank accountthatday. 27. CH S 2 also stated that,in addition to the Five Plus loan,M CK ENZIE referred to him a num beroffl-iends/associatesforthepurpose ofcreatingand subm itting additionalfraudulent PPP loans. As stated above,CH S 2 and A ugustin w ould generally share the kickback paynw nts forthese referm ls.CH S 2 stated that,atsom e pointin the schem e,A ugustin instructed him notto pay M CKENZIE a portion of the kickback paym ents thatCH S 2 received from M CKEN ZIE'S referrals.A ccordingto CH S 2,w hen M CKEN ZIE would inquireaboutnotreceiving hiscut,CH S 2 w ould referhim to Augustin. Emailsand TextM essazesCba/irvlM CKENZIE 'SKnowinq Participation in the Fraud 28. As partof its investigation,Iaw enforcem ent obtained cornm unications between CH S 2 and M CKEN ZIE,including textm essagesand emails. lhave reviewed a numberofthese com m unications,which discuss,among otherthings,M CKENZIE'S PPP loan and the Ioansfor individuals M CKEN ZIE referred to CH S 2. 29. On oraboutM ay l5,2020,CH S 2 em ailed M CKEN ZIE Form s 94l forFive Plus forallfourquartersof20l9. The fonnswere filled out(including stating thatFivePlushad 10 employees and almost $300,000 in quarterly payroll) but were not signed. The same day, M CKEN ZIE em ailed CH S 2 sir ed copiesofthe fourForm s941. On or about M ay 16,2020,M CK ENZIE forwarded CH S 2 an em ailfrom Bank Processor l titled,'ûYour Paycheck Protection Program loan has been subm itted.'' The em ail stated,in part:llDam ion,Yourapplication w assenttothe SBA to beprocessed. Basedon capacity, the SBA m ay take up to a few daysto processyourapplication.'' Page 10 of13 31. On oraboutM ay 20,2020,M CKENZIE texted CHS 2:ûç-rhey said the voided check isunderreview once they done they w illemail.'' M CK EN ZIE then texted:$(Idonthavea business accountforthisbusinessiam goingtotrytogetoneopentodayjustincasethey askforit.'' 32. On or about M ay 19, 2020, M CKENZIE texted CH S 2 w ith inform ation that appearstorelatetoadiffemntfraudulentloanapplication,including:(1)asocialsecuritynumber; (2)dateofbirth;(3)emailaddress;and (4)employeridentificationnumber(i:EIN'').Laterthat day,MCKENZIE textedCHS2:ibcanyouget(NAME REDACTEDIat$290k?'' 33. On oraboutM ay 19,2020,CH S 2 separately em ailed M CK EN ZIE a blank intake inform ation form to be filled outw ith the personaland business inform ation for M CKEN ZIE'S referrals.Andinaseparatetextmessage,CHS2stated:$iIjustsentyouafonmtof5lloutwitheach clientitseasierwith usto upload application we are swamped A lso ifthe corp and hom e address arethesamejustputsameoncorpaddress.'' OnoraboutMay 2l,2020,MCKENZIE emailed CH S 2 com pleted intake forms regarding two referrals. During my review ofM CKEN ZIE'S comm unications w ith CH S 2,l found what appearsto be inform ation pertaining to atleastten differentpeople and corporate entities. Further investigation, including review of data collected by the SBA and bank records, to date has identified PPP loanstotaling morethan $3.3 millioncorrespondingtothese namesand entities. BankRecordsConfirm M CKENZIE'SKnowinz Participation in theFraud 35. l have reviewed CH S 2's bank records,which reflectpaym ents to CHS 2 from MCKENZIE'S referrals as wellas payments by CHS 2 to Augustin (who had brought in M CKENZIE to the scheme). Forexample,on oraboutM ay 26,2020,CHS 2 received a wire transfkr in the amount of $122,155 related to a PPP application in the name ofa company (hereinafter'Ecompany 14'')thatM CKENZIE had referred to CHS 2. The same day,from that Page 11 of13 sameaccount,CHS2wired $39.970into oneofAugustin'sbankaccounts.CHS2 contirmedthat the paym entto Augustin represented his share ofthe kickback from Company 14.6 Bank recordsand textm essagesalso reflectpaym entsdirectly to M CKEN ZIE from hisreferrals,follow ed by paym ents from M CKEN ZIE to CHS 2. Forexam ple,on June 8,2020, CH S 2 provided M CKEN ZIE w ith his bank account inform ation via text m essage and stated: ltAfter yourm oney send m e 80k.'' M CKENZIE responded,ifOk.'' Separately,on oraboutJune 8,2020,M CKENZIE deposited two checks in the amounts of $85,000 and $90,000 from a company M CKEN ZIE had referred to CH S 2. On oraboutJune l1,2020,CH S 2 received a wire transferin theamountof$80,000directly from FivePlus.Thatsameday,from the sameaccount, CHS 2 wired $40,000 to one ofAugustin'sbank accounts.CHS2 explained to investigatorsthat the $80,000 tmnsferwasin connection with one ofM CKENZIE'Sreferrals,who had wired the kickback paym entdirectly to M CK ENZIE instead ofCH S 2. Other banking records show deposits consistent w ith M CKEN ZIE receiving additionalkickbacks. Betw een approximately M ay 26,2020 and July 2,2020,M CK EN ZIE received payments of$20,000,$5,000,and $45,000 from three separate companies. Diflkrent banking recordsshow CH S 2 received separate paym entsfrom each ofthose three com panies. 6 Bankrecordsshow thaton M ay 26,2020,thesame day CHS 2 paid $39,970toAugustin, CHS2alsomadeapurchaseatajewelrystoreintheamountof$73,000. Page 12 of13 CO NCLUSIO N Based on the fbrgoing,Irespectfully subm itthatthere isprobable causeto believe thatDAM ION M CKENZIE committed theTargetOtlknses. FIJRTHER YOtJR AFFIA NT SA YETIINA UGHT. M ICHA EL BENIVEGNA SpecialAgent IRS-CI A ttested to by the applicantin accordance with the rtquirem ents ik 'ed. R.Crim .P.4.1 by telephone on this Day ot-August, 2020 $x. z IION.PATRIC K M ,HUNT UNITED STATES M AGISI'RATF,JU I7Gl:,' Page 13of13 Troy T. Walker Aug 3, 2020
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