Court filing — No. 0:20-mj-06316 (Dkt. 1, S.D. Fla.)
Summary
Criminal Complaint (AO 91) in United States of America v. Damion Mckenzie, Case 0:20-mj-06316-PMH, Document 1, entered on the docket August 4, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The complaint lists Wire Fraud, Bank Fraud, and Conspiracy/Attempt to Commit Wire and Bank Fraud, and refers to an attached affidavit. In the affidavit, Michael Benivegna, an IRS-CI Special Agent, states that the affidavit supports a complaint charging Damion Mckenzie with wire fraud, bank fraud, and attempt and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, through at least on or about July 2, 2020. It alleges a scheme to obtain forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans, with applications worth more than $24 million, and concludes that there is probable cause.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
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“Court filing — No. 0:20-mj-06316 (Dkt. 1, S.D. Fla.).”
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Case 0:20-mj-06316-PMH Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/04/2020 Page 1 of 14
AO 91(Rev 08/(y)) CrlmlnalCompl
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U NITED STATES D ISTRICT COURT
forthe
Stputhern DistrictofFlorida
United StatesofAmerica
V.
Damion Mckenzie, casexo.g p -p'yzy
flehmdanltsl
CRIM INAL COM PLAINT
1.thecomplainantin thiscase, statethatthefollowing istrueto the bestofmy knowledgeand belief.
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18U.S.C.jj1M 3and2 Wire Fraud
18U.S.C.sâ1M4and2 BankFraud
18U.S.C.5 1349 Conspiracy/Attem ptto Comm itW ire and Bank Fraud
Thiscriminalcomplaintisbasedonthese facts:
SEE AU ACHED AFFIDAVIT.
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Case 0:20-mj-06316-PMH Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/04/2020 Page 2 of 14
AFFID AVIT
1,M ichaelBenivegna,being Grstduly sw orn,hereby depose and state asfollows:
IN TRO DU C H O N A ND A GEN T BA CK G RO UN D
I m ake this Affidavit in support of a crim inal com plaint charging DA M ION
MCKENZIE ('VM CKENZIE'' or çiDefendant''), with wire fraud, bank fraud, attempt and
conspiracytocommitwirefraudandbankfraud,inviolationof18 U.S.C.jj1343,1344,1349,
and 2,from on oraboutM ay 15,2020 to atleaston oraboutJuly 2,2020,in the Southern District
ofFlorida,andelsewhere(thegt-rargetOffenses'').
2. Defendanthas participated in a schem e to obtain by fraud m illions of dollars in
forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (iiPPP'') and other government
programs,conspiringwithapersonnow cooperatingwiththeinvestigation(SCCHS29')andothers.
Defendant soughta fraudulentPPP loan forhisown company,Five Plus lnvestm entGroup LLC
(ttFive PIus'*),with CHS 2 providing falsified documents and submitting the application on
Defendant's behalf. Defendantalso conspired to subm it a num ber ofadditionalfraudulentPPP
Ioan applicationsforothercom panies by recruiting other confederate 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. For exam ple,the conspirators used
nearly identicalversionsofthe sam e fabricated bank statements,recycled in the PPP applications
form ultiple companiesw ith m inorchanges.
The conspirators in the schem e planned or prepared at Ieast 90 fraudulent
applicationssm ostofwhich were subm itted. Based on the evidence investigators have reviewed
to dateeCH S 2,Defendant,and theirco-conspiratorsapplied forPPP loansthataretogetherworth
Case 0:20-mj-06316-PMH Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/04/2020 Page 3 of 14
morethan $24 million dollars,with atleastapproximately 42 ofthoseloansapproved and funded
foratotalof-approximately $17.4 m illion.Certain ofthoseloan recipientsthen wired akickback
of varying amounts,often approxim ately 25% of the fkaudulent loan proceeds,to an account
controlled by CH S 2.
4. Iam a SpecialAgentwith the United StatesDepartmentofTheTreasury,lnternal
RevenueService,CriminallnvestigationC$lRS-C1'')andhavebeenemployedinthiscapacitysince
October2016. lam presently assir ed to the M iamiField Oftk e. M y duties as a SpecialA gent
includethe investigationofpossiblecriminalviolationsofthelnternalRevenue Code(Title26of
theUnited StatesCode),theBankSecrecyAct(Title31oftheUnited StatesCode),andtheM oney
Laundering Statutes (Title 18 of the United States Code).l gaduated from the Criminal
InvestigatorTraining Program atthe FederalLaw Enforcem entTraining Centerin A pril20l7 and
the Special Agent Investigative Techniques program at the N ational Crim inal Investigation
Training Academy in July 2017. In these two programs,1studied a variety of law enforcem ent
tactics and crim inalinvestigatortechniquesrelating to tax and financialcrim es.Since becom ing
an IRS-CI SpecialAgent,lhave personally investigated and assisted in investigationsrelating to
the lnternalRevenue Law sand financialcrim es. Recently,Ihave been assigned to w ork with the
U.S.Departm entofJustice and otherlaw enforcem entpartners,including the FederalBureau of
lnvestigation and the Sm allBusiness A dm inistration Offk e of Inspector Genem l,to investigate
possible fraud associated w ith the stim ulus and econom ic assistance program s created by the
federalgovernmentin response to the COVID-19 program .
The facts in this A ffqdavitcom e from m y personalobservations,my training and
experience,and information obtained from otherm em bersoflaw enforcem entand from witnesses.
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ThisAffidavit isintended to show m erely thatthere is sufficientprobable cause and doesnotset
forth allofm y know ledge aboutthism atter.1
PR O BA BLE CAUSE
TheJk pc/leck Protection Pros am
6. TheCoronavirusAid,Relief,and EconomicSecurityCVCARES'')Actisafedeml
law enacted in oraround M arch 2020 and designed to provide em ergency fm ancialassistance to
the m illions of A mericans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COV1D-19
pandemic.One sourceofreliefprovidedby theCARES Actwastheauthorization ofup to $349
billioninforgivableIoanstosnzallbusinessesforjobretentionandcertainotherexpenses,through
aprogram referredtoasthePPP.In oraroundApril2020,Congressauthorized over$300 billion
in additionalPPP funding.
ln order to obtain a PPP loan, a qtlalifying business m ust subm it a PPP loan
application, which is signed by an authorized representative of the business. The PPP loan
application requiresthe business (through its authorized representative) to acknowledge the
program rulesand m ake certain affirm ative certitk ations in orderto be eligible to obtain the PPP
loan.InthePPP loanapplication,thesmallbusiness(throughitsauthorizedrepresentative)must
state,amongotherthings,its:(a)averagemonthlypayrollexpenses;and(b)numberofemployees.
n ese figuresare used to calculate the amountof money the sm allbusiness iseligible to receive
under the PPP. ln addition, businesses applying for a PPP Ioan m ust provide docum entation
show ingtheirpayrollexpenses.
1 The conductand charges described in this Affidavitare partofa larger investigation that
is being conducted in this D istrict and elsewhere. As a result,not allnum bered sources and
anonymous individualsand entitiesare described in every filing. Ihave included in thisAffidavit
only those individualsand entities1have deemed necessary to explain the particularfactssetforth
here.
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A PPP loan application m ustbe processed by a participating lender. lfa PPP loan
application isapproved,the padicipating lenderfunds the PPP loan using its own m onies,w hich
are 100% guaranteedbytheSmallBusinessAdministration(éçSBA''). Datafrom the application,
including inform ation aboutthe borrower,the totalam ountof the loan,and the listed num berof
employees,istransm itted bythe lendertothe SBA inthecourseofprocessingtheIoan.
9. PPP loan proceedsm ustbe used by the businesson certain perm issible expenses
payrollcosts,intereston m ortgages.rent,and utilities. The PPP allows the interestand principal
on the PPP loan to be entirely forgiven ifthe businessspendsthe loan proceedson these expense
item sw ithin a designated period oftim e afterreceiving the proceedsand usesa certain am ountof
the PPP loan proceedson payrollexpenses.
The Scheme to Obtain FraudulentPPP Loans
10. On oraboutMay l3,2020,Phillip J.Augtlstin CsAugustin'')and CHS 2 worked
togetherto subm ita fraudulentPPP loan application on behalfofa com pany ow ned by A ugustin.
Augustin submitted a PPP loan of$84,515to afederally insured bank (hereinafterçsBank 3''),
through a third-party company processor(hereinafter''Bank Processor 1',).2 The application
included bank statementsthatare clearforgeries,and CHS 2 hasadm itted thatthe application w as
based on docum entsthathe falsified forAugustin.3
2 A1l banks referenced in this Affidavit are insured by the Federal Deposit lnsurance
Corporation.
OnJune25,2020,investigatorsarrestedCHS2andanotherjersonnow cooperatingwith
theinvestigation(ûECHS39')and executed searchwarrantsattheirresldences.Followinghisarrest,
CH S 2 chose to cooperate w ith the investigation in the hope ofobtaining favorable consideration
in connection w ith hispending charges. CH S 2 wasinterviewed on thatday,and hascontinued to
cooperate w ith the investigation afterobtaining counsel. M ostof his statements related herein
have been corroborated by records obtained from third parties or recovered from his electronic
devices.
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Follow ing the successofthatinitialfraudulentPPP application,Augustin and CH S
2 began to work on obtaining m ore and largerPPP loans fbr Augustin's associates and others,
generallyforseveralhundredthousand dollarsforeach loan,uptoasmuchasapproximately $1.24
million. Based on the evidence investigators have reviewed so far, CH S 2 and Augustin
collectively coordinatedapplicationsforPPP loansthataretogetherworth morethan$24million
dollars. TheevidencealsoshowsmanymorePPPloanswereattemptedbutrejectedbybanksor
their partners,or w ere planned and prepared,but not stlbm itted before CH S 2's arrest. The
evidence suggests that allor nearly all of those loan applications were fraudulent, including
Defendant's loan application and the applicationsDefendantorchestrated by referring additional
confederatesto the conspiracy.
12. lnvestigators have obtained m any other PPP loan applications that CH S 2 has
adm itted hesubm itted aspartofthisscheme,based on falsified docum ents,and have also obtained
draftdocum entsused orintended to be used in those applicationsorothers.These applicationsall
follow the sam e pattern of fraud many w ith obviously counterfeit February 2020 bank
statements,and allwith fabricated IRS Forms 941 (titled,StEmployer'sQuarterly FederalTax
Return'')with thesameindiciaoffraud foundinAugustin'sinitialapplication butgenerallywith
even largerinflated payrollnumbers,thus yielding m uch larger loans.4 CH S 2 hasexplained to
investigatorsthatthe figures in the Forms 941 w ere the productofa form ula thatallowed him to
startw ith atargetloan am ount,and then ivback into''the payrollfigureson the form . He explained
how he used tiguresthatwould produce an average m onthly payrollfor2019 that,w hen m ultiplied
by 2.5,would yield the requested loan am ount. In turn,the number ofemployees reported w as
4 Som e loan applications also included voided checks thatappearto t)e falsitied,such as a
purportedBank5checkthatappearstohaveIxenproducedonacomputerand,asthesubjectline
reads,Sûconverted to PD F,''ratherthan a scan ofan authentic check.
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chosen based on tk tionalpayrollfigures,chosen to avoid an average em ployee salary thatm ight
raise suspicion.
CH S 2 has also explained that he tried to use bank statem ents showing that the
com pany had a large balance. Because so few companies had such a statem ent,and likely also
because itwaseasierthan keepingtrack oftheirtrue statelnents,CH S 2 repeatedly subm itted near-
replicasofthe same falsified bank statem ents. ln particular,CH S 2 appearsto have recycled one
statement each from Bank l,Bank 6,and Bank 7. ln recycling a statement, CH S 2 generally
changed only the account num ber and the accotlnt holder's nalne and address, such that each
version ofthe statem enthad identicalfiguresand line itenzsthroughoutthe statenzent.
A review ofrecordsforbank accountscontrolled by CH S 2 atBank 5 confinn CH S
2'sadm issionsthathe received numerous kickbacks,often ofapproxim ately 25% ofthe am ount
ofthe loans,and thathe regularly w ired Augustin a share ofthatkickback in the early stagesof
the schem e. CH S 2 explained that they 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 ofthe kickbacks
form ultiple loansin onew ire.
lnvestigators are stillreceiving and analyzing records,butbased on a prelim inary
analysis,asofJuly 24,2020,invcstigatorshad identified atotalof$2,367,765.82 in transfersto
CH S 2's accounts from entities thateach obtained a si
zable PPP loan and thatw ere identified in
the PPP tslesseized from CH S 2'sand anotherco-conspirator'sresidences,asdescribed below
orfrom individualsassociated w ith those entities.
n e PPP loans identified above as implicated in the foregoing kickback paym ents
to CH S 2 representonly a fm ction ofthe overallscheme. In executing search w arrants atthe
respective residencesofCHS 2 and CH S 3.federalagentsfound stacksofpaperprinted outand
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organized by entity,containing an dtintake form ,''fabricated Form s 94l,or both for each entity.
The intake fonns contained fieldsforthe information needed to fabricate the documentsand f5ll
outotheraspectsofthe PPP application:identifying inform ation aboutthe ownerand com pany,
asw ellasbank accountinformation forreceiving the loan.A section atthe end m arked StBELOW
ISOFFICE USE ONLY''includedblankfieldsforthekiNumberofEmployees,''iiM onthly Payroll
Expense,''and V:SBA Loan Pre-ApprovalA mount.'' Between CH S 2's and CH S 3'sresidences,
investigatorsseized paperfilesforPPP loan applicationsforapproxim ately 80 differententities.
Data obu ined from the SBA show ed additional PPP loan applications from
additionalentities that text m essage and em ailrecords show had been referred to CHS 2 by
Defendantorotherindividuals.
TheFraudulentPPP Loan toDefendant'sCb- flay.'FivePlus
18. According toFlorida'sDivisionofCorporationswebsite(ûûSunbiz''),FivePluswas
incorporated in 2018 w ith its listed principaladdress in M iam i,Florida. M CKEN ZIE islisted on
Sunbiz as one offive managers of Five Plus w ith a separate address in M iam iGardens,Florida.
According to separate bank records,on or about M ay 26, 2020, M CK ENZIE opened a bank
accountin the name Five Plusand listed him selfasthe sole signatory on the account.
19. From on oraboutM ay 16,2020 through on oraboutM ay 19,2020,an application
and supporting docum ents fora PPP loan w ere electronically subm itted on behalfofFive Plusto
Bank 2 through Bank Processor l.The submitted documents included,among otherthings:(1)
purportedForms941forallfourquartersof2019;(2)acompanybank statementforFivePlus;
and(3)two blankchecks.
20. Thepurported Forms941show quarterly payrollofalmost$300,000 each quarter,
for 10 employees. Each wassigned by hand w ith the nam e i'Dam ion M cKenzie''asthe company
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owner,and also Iisted M CKEN ZIE asthe com pany'sdesignee and asa t*paid Preparer,''though
he isnota paid tax preparer. The Five Plus Form s 94l follow the sam e style and pattern asthe
many otherfalsified Form s941 thatCH S 2,described above,acknow ledged thathe helped create
and subm itin the course ofthe schem e,including in the indicia offraud.s IRS records show that
Five Plusdid not,in fact,file any Form s941 forany qual-terof20l9 orthe firstqualterof2020,
and Florida Department of Revenue records show that Five Plus did not reportany wages or
employeesforthatsam eperiod.
21. 'T'
he purported com pany bank statem ent,w hich was subm itted in electronic,PD F
form at,isa clearforgery. First,the statementisnotfrom Five Plus'sbank. Second,according to
the docum ent'sf5le S'prom rties,''thestatementw ascreated using (SPDFFILLER ''a program used
to editelectronic PDF files,and wasttm odified using i'Ikxt.''
22. ln a letterdated June2,2020,Bank Processor1 informed M CKEN ZIE thathisPPP
loan application wasrejected. Thefollowing reason wasstated on the letterfortherejection:
Elunable to verify Applicant's identity from documents subm itted ordiscrepanciesin inform ation
sublnitted.''
5 Asnoted above,M CKEN ZIE waslisted asboth ownerand paid preparer.Dozensofother
Form s 94l subm itted in this scheme evidence the sam e error. CH S 2 has adm itted thatthese
documentssharethatfeature l cause he misunderstood the form,and he(orsomeone following
hisinstructions)preparedalIoftheForms94latissue. Thecontentoftheformsalso indicate
falsification. AlIfour quarterly form s are nearly identical,and the four form s for Five Plus are
identical,dow n to thepenny,in reported figures. They also evidence apattern ofpayrollspending
thatislikely false:each ofthe quartersshows increasesfrom the firstto second to third m onth of
the quarter. Foreach identicalform ,the same figuresare reported forthe tax liability incurred in
thetirstmonthofeachquarter,thesamefigureforthesecond monthofeachquarter(increased
from the firstmonth),andthesame figure forthethird month ofeach quarter(increased from the
second month). The resultisthatthe company reportsa perfectly repeating cycle ofascending
payrollcostsw ithin each quarter,dropping down again atthe startofthe nextquatter. CHS 2 has
explained thatthisw as due to a formula he used,allocating differentpercentagesofthe quarterly
payrolltax liability to each month ofeach qualer.
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CHS 2 Cbaflr- # to Law Faf/rce- a/thattheFive#/1/,
çPpp LoanAlmlication rFJ,
:
Fraudulent
Investigators spoke with CH S 2 aboutM CKEN ZIE and the Five Plus PPP loan.
CHS 2 stated thathe had m etM CKEN ZIE through Augustin. According to CH SZ,the three of
them had discussed M CKENZIE'S PPP loan, as well as M CKEN ZIE*S referrals, for which
M CK EN ZIE w'ould receive a smallcut.A sstated above,CH S 2 and A ugustin had already av eed
to sharethe25% kickback paymentsthatCHS 2 would usually receive from referrals,including
from M CK EN ZIE'Sreferrals.
As to the Five Plus PPP loan, CH S 2 confinmed that the loan application was
fraudulent.CH S2 stated thathe:(1)createdfbrM CKENZIE anonlineaccountfbrFivePluswith
Bank Processor 1:(2)created and submitted the fake Five Plusbank statement;and (3)created
and subm itted the false Form s 94l. A ccording to CH S 2,however,he em ailed the Form s94l to
M CKENZIE unsigned,andthenM CKENZIE emailedtheformsbackto him w ith sir atures.(As
described below ,l have reviewed emails thatappearto corrobomte CHS 2's description ofthis
emailexchange.)
25. AccordingtoCHS2,M CKENZIE'SPPP loanapplicationwasultimatelyrejected.
26. IP session recordsfrom Bank Processor 1 corrobomte C HS 2's statementthathe
assisted w ith the subm ission ofthe Five Plus loan application. Bank Processor 1'sIP recordsfor
thatloanapplicationshow thatacomputerwithanIP address(endingin170)associatedwithCHS
2'sresidence in Broward County,Florida,logged into the Five Plus loan accountasearly asM ay
l6,2020. The session recordsalso revealsubsequentloginsby the same IP address(ending in
170),aswellasbyacomputerassociatedwith theBroward CountyresidenceofoneofAugustin's
associates,and bymobiledevices.Oneofthose mobiledevices(with an IP addressing ending in
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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 EN ZIE referred to
him a num beroffriends/associatesforthe purpose ofcreating and subm ittingadditionalfraudulent
PPP loans. Asstated above,CHS2 and Augustin would generally share the kickback payments
forthese refenuls.CH S 2 stated that,atsome pointin the schem e,A ugustin instructed him notto
pay M CKEN ZIE a portion ofthe kickback payments that CH S 2 received from M CK EN ZIE'S
referrals.According to CH S 2,whenM CKENZIE would inquire aboutnotreceiving hiscut,CH S
2 w ould referhim to Augustin.
Emailsand TextM essazesCba/l
-r- M CKENZIE 'sKnowinz Participation in theFraud
28. As partof its investigation, law enforcement obtained cornm unications betw een
CH S 2 and M CKEN ZIE,includingtextm essagesand em ails. lhave reviewed a num berofthese
com m unications,w hich discuss,am ong other things,M CKEN ZIE'S PPP loan and the Ioans for
individualsM CKEN ZIE referred to CHS 2.
29. On oraboutM ay l5,2020,CHS 2 em ailed M CK EN ZIE Form s94l for Five Plus
fora11fourquartersof20l9.Thetbnnswerefilled out(includingstatingthatFivePlushad 10
employees and almost $300,000 in quarterly payroll) but were not sir ed. The same day,
M CK ENZIE em ailed CH S 2 signed copiesofthe fourForm s941.
On oraboutM ay 16,2020,M C KENZIE forwarded CH S 2 an emailfrom Bank
Processor 1 titled,S'Your Paycheck Protection Prog am loan has been subm ittedv'' The em ail
stated,in part:iiDam ion,Yourapplication wassenttothe SBA to beprocessed. Based on capacity,
the SBA may take up to a few daysto processyourapplication.''
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On oraboutM ay 20,2020,M CKEN ZIE texted CHS 2:ûi-l-hey said thevoided check
isunderreview once they donethey w illem ail.''M CKEN ZIE then texted:11Idonthave abusiness
accountforthisbusinessiam goingtotrytogetoneopentodayjustincasetheyaskforit.''
On or about M ay 19, 2020, M CKEN ZIE texted CH S 2 w ith inform ation that
appearstorelatetoadiffel-
entfraudulentloanapplication,including:(l)asocialsecuritynumber'
,
(2)dateofbirth;(3)emailaddress;and(4)employeridentificationnumber($(EIN'').Laterthat
day,MCKENZIE textedCHS2:licanyougetENAME REDACTED)at$290k?''
33. O n oraboutM ay l9,2020,CH S 2 separately em ailed M CK EN ZIE a blank intake
information form to be filled out with the personaland business inform ation forM CKEN ZIE'S
refen-als.Andinaseparatetextmessage,CHS2stated:$i1justsentyouaform tof5lloutwitheach
clientits easierwith usto upload application w e are swam ped A lso ifthe corp and home address
arethesamejustputsameon corp address.'' On oraboutMay 21,2020,MCIQENZIE emailed
CH S 2 com pleted intake form sregarding two referrals.
34. During m y review ofM CKEN ZIE'S comm unicationsw 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 loanstotalingmore than $3.3million correspondingtothesenamesand entities.
BankRecordsCbl//irplM CKENZIE'SKnowinz Participation in theFraud
l have reviewed CHS 2's bank records,w hich retlect paym ents to CH S 2 from
M CKENZIE'S referrals as well as payments by CHS 2 to Augustin (who had brought in
M CKENZIE to the scheme). Forexample,on oraboutM ay 26,2020,CHS 2 received awire
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
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sameaccount,CHS2wired $39,970 intooneofAugustin'sbankaccounts.CHS2confirmedthat
the paym entto Augustin represented hisshare ofthe kickback from Com pany 14.6
36. Bank recordsand textm essagesalso retlectpaym entsdirectly to M CK ENZIE fronz
hisreferrals,follow ed by paym ents from M CKENZIE to CH S 2. Forexam ple,on June 8,2020,
CHS 2 provided M CKENZIE with his bank accountinformation via text message and stated:
SçAfteryourmoney send me 80k.'' M CKENZIE responded,:*Ok.'' Separately,on oraboutJune
8,2020,M CKENZIE deposited two checks in the amounts of $85,000 and $90,000 from a
com pany M CKEN ZIE had referred to CH S 2. On oraboutJune 11,2020,CH S 2 received a w ire
transferinthe amountof$80,000 directly from FivePlus.n atsameday,from thesameaccount,
CHS 2 wired $40,000 to one ofAugustin'sbank accounts.CHS 2 explained to investigatorsthat
the $80,000 transferw'as in connection with one ofM CKENZIE'Sreferrals,who had wired the
kickback paymentdirectly to M CK ENZIE instead ofCH S 2.
37. Other banking records show deposits consistent w ith M CKENZIE receiving
additionalkickbacks. Betw een approxim ately M ay 26,2020 and July 2, 2020, M CKENZIE
received payments of$20,000,$5,000,and $45,000 from three separate companies. Different
banking recordsshow CH S 2 received separate paym entsfrom each ofthose three com panies.
6 Bank recordsshow thaton M ay 26,2020,thesameday CHS 2 paid $39,970toAugustin,
CHS2alsomadeapurchaseatajewelrystoreintheamountof$73,000.
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Case 0:20-mj-06316-PMH Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/04/2020 Page 14 of 14
CO NCLUSIO N
38. Based on the forgoing,Irespectfully subm itthatthere isprobable cause to believe
thatDAM ION MCKENZIE committedtheTargetOflknses.
FtJRTHER Y()IJR AFFIANT SAYET1INA UGHT.
M ICLIAEL BENIVEGNA
SpecialA gent
IRS-C,I
Attested to bythe applicantin accordance
with therequirem ents Fed.R. Crim.P.4.1
by tekphone on this - Day ofAugust,2020
'
ik
-lk
.
-
. ............... .
HON.PATRIC K M . CIUNNr
UN ITED STATES M AG IS'I'
R ATE JUDG I,:'
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