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Individual Indicted and Arrested for Laundering More Than $360,000

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico, dated March 11, 2022, announcing that on March 10, 2022 a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Martín Scamaroni-Cintrón with money laundering violations. According to the indictment, Scamaroni-Cintrón engaged in a money laundering conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) involving Unemployment Insurance and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments and Small Business Administration loan proceeds. The applications were submitted in the names of other persons but used the defendant's bank account and routing numbers, the release states. Scamaroni-Cintrón is also charged with sixteen substantive counts of money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i), and the benefits and loans involved totaled approximately $361,683.

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“Individual Indicted and Arrested for Laundering More Than $360,000.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2022-03-14-individual-indicted-and-arrested-for-laundering-more-than-3-d9558a9cd3/, SHA-256 9c067ca0d6ce3e4e7898e0422e74a84fbbe150882fd338a3860e4652b747b88d.

Full text

                                     Department of Justice

                                       U.S. Attorney’s Office

                                       District of Puerto Rico

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                         Friday, March 11, 2022



Individual Indicted and Arrested for Laundering More Than
    $360,000 of Unemployment Benefits and Pandemic
             Unemployment Assistance Funds
SAN JUAN, P.R. – On March 10, 2022, the Federal Grand Jury in the District of Puerto Rico
returned an indictment charging Martín Scamaroni-Cintrón with money laundering violations
related to fraudulently obtained funds from the Unemployment Insurance and Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance Program, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District
of Puerto Rico. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United
States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (USDOL-OIG), and the Puerto Rico
Department of Treasury (Hacienda).

According to the indictment, Scamaroni-Cintrón engaged in a money laundering conspiracy in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) to obtain Electronic Transfers of Funds (ETFs) containing
Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payments from
multiple states as well as the proceeds of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loans that he was
not qualified and authorized to receive in his various bank accounts held in Puerto Rico. The
applications for UI and PUA were fraudulently submitted in the names of other persons, whom never
applied for UI and PUA benefits or SBA loans, but the applications utilized the defendant’s bank
account and routing numbers. Scamaroni-Cintrón knowingly transferred these illegally obtained
proceeds to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and proceeds.

In addition to the money laundering conspiracy, Scamaroni-Cintrón was also charged with sixteen
substantive counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i). From
approximately May 2020 through January 2021, the amount of fraudulently obtained benefits and
loans associated with the defendant’s money laundering activity totaled approximately $361,683.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSA) Victor Acevedo and Manuel Muñiz Lorenzi are in charge of the
prosecution of the case. If convicted, the defendant is facing 20 years in prison for each money
laundering count, a fine of up to $250,000, and three years of supervised release.

To report a COVID-19-related fraud scheme or suspicious activity, contact the National Center for
Disaster Fraud (NCDF) by calling the NCDF Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web
Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

                                                ###
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO - Puerto Rico
                     Updated March 11, 2022

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