Indictment — United States v. Austin Martin Siampwizi

Record facts

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia · No. 1:23-cr-00246-WMR-RDC · Doc. 1 · 2023-07-25 · Docket on CourtListener

Full text

ORIGINAL 
FILED IN CHAMBERS 
U.S.D.C. Atlanta 
JUL 25 2023 
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTKevinP. 
 
Weimer, Clerk
 
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIYA 441(--  Deputy clerk 
ATLANTA DIVISION 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
V. 
AUSTIN MARTIN SIAMPWIZI 
THE GRAND JURY CHARGES THAT:  
Criminal Indictment 1:23—C12246 
No. 
UNDER SEAL 
Count One  
(Money Laundering Conspiracy -18 U.S.C. § 1956(h)) 
1. Beginning on a date unknown, but from at least on or about March 4, 
2020, and continuing through at least in or about May 2020, in the Northern 
District of Georgia and elsewhere, the Defendant, AUSTIN MARTIN 
SIAMPWIZI, did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, agree, and have a 
tacit understanding with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to 
knowingly conduct and attempt to conduct financial transactions affecting 
interstate and foreign commerce, which involved the proceeds of specified 
unlawful activity, that is, wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, 
Section 1343, knowing that said transactions were designed in whole and in part 
to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of 
the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, and while conducting and 
attempting to conduct such financial transactions, knowing that the property 
involved in the financial transactions represented the proceeds of some form of 
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unlawful activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 
1956(a)(1)(B)(i). 
Background  
At all times relevant to this Indictment: 
Defendant 
2. AUSTIN MARTIN SIAMPWIZI was a Zambian-born naturalized citizen of 
the United States residing in the metro Atlanta area in the Northern District of 
Georgia. 
Unemployment Insurance Program 
3. The United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training 
Administration was a federal agency that provided oversight for the Federal-
State Unemployment Insurance Program, which provided unemployment 
benefits to eligible workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own 
as determined under state law and who meet other state eligibility requirements. 
Unemployment Insurance payments, also known as benefits, are intended to 
provide temporary financial assistance to eligible workers. 
4. The Employment Security Department of Washington State ("ESD") was 
the state agency that oversaw the Unemployment Insurance program in 
Washington State. Through this agency, unemployment benefits may be issued 
to Washington residents who are unemployed because of a nationwide 
pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. 
5. In general, a person seeking unemployment benefits through the ESD 
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must complete an online application that includes, among other things, the 
claimant's name, date of birth, Social Security number, and the reason why the 
claimant is unemployed. To be eligible for benefits, the claimant must: (1) have 
been recently employed in the state of Washington in the past 12 to 18 months 
for a minimum of 680 hours; (2) be currently unemployed; (3) be able and 
available to work; and (4) be actively seeking suitable full-time employment. 
6. In Washington, unemployment compensation funds are most often issued 
in the form of a direct deposit into the claimant's designated bank account or 
pre-paid debit card account. 
The "CARES" Act 
7. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ("CARES") Act was a 
federal law enacted in or around March 2020 and was designed to provide 
emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who were suffering 
the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
8. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal program called 
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance that provided up to 39 weeks of 
unemployment benefits and funding to states for the administration of the 
program. An individual receiving PUA benefits might also have received a $600 
weekly benefit in federal funds under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment 
Compensation program if he or she was eligible for such compensation for the 
week claimed. The CARES Act also included a provision of temporary benefits 
for individuals who had exhausted their entitlement to regular unemployment 
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benefits, as well as coverage for individuals who were not eligible for regular 
benefits, were self-employed, or had limited recent work history. 
Manner and Means  
9. The Defendant, AUSTIN MARTIN SIAMPWIZI, and conspirators 
laundered the fraudulent proceeds from false claims for Unemployment 
Insurance filed with state agencies that used stolen personally identifiable 
information ("PII") for the false filings. 
10.Conspirators filed fraudulent state unemployment claims via the Internet 
using stolen PII belonging to residents who had not applied for benefits and did 
not authorize the use of their PII. Based on those fraudulent applications, state 
employment agencies, such as the ESD, issued Unemployment Insurance 
payments to prepaid debit cards or financial accounts designated in the 
applications. 
11.In order to conceal the fraudulent nature, source, and control of the 
proceeds, conspirators set up numerous business bank accounts for the purpose 
of receiving funds acquired from criminal activity. The business bank accounts 
set up by conspirators were for sham companies that did not have physical 
premises, earn legitimate income, or pay wages to employees. The conspirators 
registered the sham companies with the Secretary of State of Georgia, enabling 
them to open business bank accounts for those companies. 
12.When funds obtained through fraud were received into these business 
bank accounts, the conspirators quickly depleted those illegally obtained funds 
through interstate and foreign wire transfers to other bank accounts, cash or 
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check withdrawals, debit card transactions, and the purchase of money orders. 
Many of these money orders were made payable to and subsequently cashed by 
Defendant SIAMPWIZI. Through these actions, Defendant SIAMPWIZI and 
conspirators attempted to conceal and did conceal the source of the funds 
obtained illegally through the Unemployment Insurance scheme. 
All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h). 
Count Two through Four  
(Money Laundering -18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i)) 
13.The Grand Jury re-alleges and incorporates by reference the factual 
allegations contained in paragraphs 2 through 12 of this Criminal Indictment as 
if fully set forth herein. 
14.Beginning on or about the dates listed in Column A of the table below, in 
the Northern District of Georgia, the Defendant, AUSTIN MARTIN SIAMPWIZI, 
aided and abetted by others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, did 
knowingly conduct and attempt to conduct financial transactions affecting 
interstate and foreign commerce, that is, the transactions identified in Column B 
in the amounts identified in Column C, which involved the proceeds of specified 
unlawful activity, that is, wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, 
Section 1343, knowing that said transactions were designed in whole and in part 
to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of 
the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, and while conducting and 
attempting to conduct such financial transactions, knowing that the property 
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involved in the financial transactions represented the proceeds of some form of 
unlawful activity: 
A 
B 
C 
Count 
Date 
Transaction Type 
Amount 
2 
05/14/2020 
Cashing of Money Order ending 
x3217 
$500.00 
3 
05/15/2020 
Cashing of Money Order ending 
x6166 
$500.00 
4 
05/15/2020 
Cashing of Money Order ending 
x2134 
$500.00 
All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) and 
Section 2. 
Count Five  
(Wire Fraud -18 U.S.C. § 1343) 
15.The Grand Jury re-alleges and incorporates by reference the factual 
allegations contained in paragraphs 2 through 12 of this Criminal Indictment as 
if fully set forth herein. 
16.From on or about July 16, 2020, through on or about August 11,2020, in 
the Northern District of Georgia and elsewhere, the Defendant, AUSTIN 
MARTIN SIAMPWIZI, aided and abetted by others known and unknown to the 
Grand Jury, knowingly devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to 
defraud and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and 
fraudulent pretenses, representations, promises, and by omission of material 
facts, and for the purpose of executing and attempting to execute such scheme 
and artifice, did with intent to defraud cause the transmission by means of wire 
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communication in interstate and foreign commerce of certain writings, signs, 
signals, pictures, and sounds. 
Background  
At all times relevant to this Indictment: 
United States Small Business Administration 
17.The United States Small Business Administration ("SBA") was an 
executive branch agency of the United States government that provides support 
to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the SBA was to maintain 
and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability 
of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities 
after disasters. 
The CARES Act and EIDL Program 
18.The provisions of the CARES Act, in conjunction with an officially 
declared disaster by the United States Government, allowed for the SBA to offer 
Economic Injury Disaster Loan ("EIDL") funding to business owners negatively 
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an SBA online portal, EIDL 
applicants submitted personal and business information in support of each EIDL 
application, and they did not have to submit supporting documentation of any 
sort. 
19. The application included a paragraph where the applicant affirmed that 
the information submitted was true and correct under the penalty of perjury and 
applicable criminal statutes. The application process involved filling out assorted 
data fields relating to the size of the affected business entity, the ownership of the 
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business, and other information such as the number of employees and gross 
business revenues realized in the 12 months prior to COVID-19's impact on the 
national economy. This information, submitted by the applicant, was then used 
by SBA to calculate the principal amount of money the small business was 
eligible to receive in the form of an EIDL. The maximum loan amount for the 
EIDL was $150,000 per entity with a maximum of $2 million including affiliates. 
20.The SBA had authority over all loans created and disbursed under the 
EIDL program. EIDL principal proceeds were solely funded by the SBA and 
disbursed from government-controlled accounts maintained with the United 
States Treasury at Federal Reserve Banks throughout the United States. 
21.Pursuant to the provisions governing the EIDL program, loan proceeds 
were required to be used by the recipient business on certain permissible 
expenses. The EIDL loans were to be used by the afflicted business, which must 
have existed in an operational condition on February 1,2020, to pay fixed debts, 
payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that could have been paid had the 
COVID-19 disaster not occurred. 
The Scheme and Artifice to Defraud  
22.The Defendant, AUSTIN MARTIN SIAMPWIZI, submitted an EIDL 
application to the SBA on behalf of his purported business entity, Global Car 
Rental LLC. 
23.It was part of the scheme that Defendant SIAMPWIZI made multiple 
fraudulent representations on the EIDL application about Global Car Rental LLC. 
The fraudulent misrepresentations included that: (1) the entity had six employees 
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as of January 31, 2020; and (2) the entity had gross revenues of $226,500 for the 12 
months prior to January 31, 2020. As Defendant SIAMPWIZI then knew, these 
representations were materially false and fraudulent. 
Execution of the Scheme and Artifice to Defraud 
24.0n or about July 16, 2020, in the Northern District of Georgia, the 
Defendant, AUSTIN MARTIN SIAMPWIZI, for the purpose of executing and 
attempting to execute the wire fraud scheme, transmitted and caused to be 
transmitted online an EIDL application for Global Car Rental LLC to the SBA, 
causing interstate wire transmissions. 
All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 and Section 2. 
Pr ovisi on 
enure novision 
25. 
25.Upon conviction of one or more of the offenses alleged in Counts One 
through Five of this Indictment, the Defendant, AUSTIN MARTIN SIAMPWIZI, 
shall forfeit to the United States, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 
982(a)(1), any and all property, real or personal, involved in such offenses, and 
any property traceable to such property, including, but not limited to, the 
following: 
MONEY JUDGMENT: A sum of money in United States currency 
representing the amount of property obtained as a result of each 
offense alleged in Counts One through Five of this Indictment. 
26.If, as a result of any act or omission of the Defendant, any property 
subject to forfeiture: 
a. cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence; 
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b. has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party; 
c. has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the Court; 
d. has been substantially diminished in value; or 
e. has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided 
without difficulty, 
it is the intent of the United States, pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, 
Section 853(p), as incorporated by Title 18, United States Code, Section 982(b)(1), 
to seek forfeiture of any other property of the Defendant up to the value of the 
forfeitable property. 
BILL 
'(e9ze9cA, 
FE 
PERSON 
RYAN K. BUCHANAN 
United States Attorney 
SARAH E. KLAPMAN 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Georgia Bar No. 437221 
600 U.S. Courthouse 
75 Ted Turner Drive SW 
Atlanta, GA 30303 
404-581-6000; Fax: 404-581-6181 
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