Factual Proffer — United States v. Jose Raul Amaro (S.D. Fla.)
Summary
A factual proffer in United States of America v. Jose Raul Amaro, Case No. 22-80118-CR-MIDDLEBROOKS/MATTHEWMAN, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, entered on the docket November 17, 2022 as Document 111. It states that a PPP application for JR Amaro Flooring, LLC was submitted to Bank of America claiming 23 employees and average monthly payroll of $165,600, when the company had only one employee. It states that the bank transferred $414,000 in PPP funds on or about June 8, 2020, and that the defendant gave co-defendant Yunior Barrera Almaguer blank pre-signed checks and wrote checks at that co-defendant's direction. It states that the defendant received a portion of the funds as payment for a role in the money laundering. The proffer is dated 11-14-2022.
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“Factual Proffer — United States v. Jose Raul Amaro (S.D. Fla.).”
Original at ecf.flsd.uscourts.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/court-filing-usa-v-barrera-almaguer-et-al-dkt-111-s-d-fla-f357144681/
, SHA-256 4e006af1a00ff538d08131eef593f61d2f3cb19a3174c482b3a7d5a1f4720d64.Full text
Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 111 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/17/2022 Page 1 of 4
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
Case No. 22-80118-CR-MIDDLEBROOKS/MA TTHEWMAN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ---• -~t.A•-----
FILED BY ~ D.C.
v.
JOSE RAUL AMARO,
NOV 11 2022
ANGELA E. NOBLE
CLERK U.S. DIST. CT.
Defendant. S.O. OF FLA. - W.P.B.
FACTUAL PROFFER
If this matter had gone to trial , the United States would have proven the following
facts beyond a reasonable doubt, which occurred in the Southern District of Florida and
elsewhere:
The Coronavirus Aid , Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was a
federal law enacted in or around March 2020 , designed to provide emergency
financial assistance to Americans who were suffering the economic effects caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was a
program referred to as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which authorized
forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses.
In order to obtain a PPP loan, a qualifying business submitted a PPP loan
application , which was signed by an authorized representative of the business. The
PPP loan application required the business to acknowledge the program rules and
make certain affirmative certifications in order to be eligible to obtain the loan . In the
PPP loan application , the small business was req uired to provide , among other things,
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Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 111 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/17/2022 Page 2 of 4
•
its average monthly payroll expenses and number of employees, which were used to
calculate the amount of money the small business was eligible to receive .
A PPP loan application was processed by a participating lender. If a PPP loan
application was approved , the participating lender funded the PPP loan using its own
monies, and the loan was 100% guaranteed by the SBA. PPP loan proceeds were
required to be used by the business to pay expenses necessary to continue the
operations of the business , including the payroll costs of employees, interest on
mortgages, rent, and utilities. The interest and principal on the PPP loan could be
entirely forgiven if the business spent the loan proceeds on these expense items within a
designated period of time and used a defined portion of the loan proceeds on payroll
expenses.
On or about June 4 , 2020, JOSE RAUL AMARO allowed the submission of a
PPP loan application on behalf of his company, JR Amaro Flooring , LLC, to Bank of
America (BofA). Specifically, AMARO gave his name, social security number, date
of birth, mailing address, and email address, and the bank account routing number
for JR Amaro Flooring to co-defendant Yunior BARRERA ALMAGUER (BARRERA),
who then had an unindicted co-conspirator use interstate wire communications to
electronically view and sign a PPP Loan Application Form on behalf of JR Amaro
Flooring, which falsely represented that the company had 23 employees and an
average monthly payroll of $165,600 each month . In actuality, JR Amaro Flooring
had only one employee, AMARO .
On or about June 8, 2020, based on the false information provided in the loan
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Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 111 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/17/2022 Page 3 of 4
application, the bank approved the loan and transferred $414,000 in PPP funds via
interstate wire communication to JR Amaro Flooring's account at BofA, for which
AMARO was the only signatory. Bank records showed that JR Amaro Flooring's
bank account at BofA had a balance of approximately $725 on June 5, 2020 , and
there was no evidence of payroll payments to employees for JR Amaro Flooring prior
to receipt of the PPP funds. AMARO discovered that BARRERA had applied for the
PPP loan on behalf of JR Amaro Flooring and made these false representations, but
kept the PPP funds.
BARRERA told AMARO to expect the PPP funds to arrive in AMARO's BofA
account. BARRERA instructed AMARO to give him blank, pre-signed checks drawn
on the account so that BARRERA could access the PPP funds, which AMARO did .
AMARO also wrote checks on the account at BARRERA's direction. Between June
8 and June 25, 2020, AMARO was aware that BARRERA laundered the PPP funds,
by either writing checks (or directing AMARO to write checks) to entities or individuals
who were not associated with JR Amaro Flooring, or by making large cash
withdrawals. For example, on June 17 and June 24 , 2020, BARRERA directed
AMARO to write checks in the amounts of $14 ,800 and $11,625 respectively from
JR Amaro Flooring's BofA account using monies from the PPP loan as described
above to Company 1, which was controlled by an unindicted co-conspirator. After
receiving these checks, Company 1 deposited them in Miami-Dade County into its
own account at BofA, followed by which Company 1 wrote checks sending the funds
directly to BARRERA. AMARO also received a portion of the unlawfully obtained
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Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 111 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/17/2022 Page 4 of 4
PPP funds from BARRERA as payment for his role in the money laundering .
At all times relevant to the offense conduct, Bank of America was a bank the
deposits of which were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , and
which was engaged in, and the activities of which affected , interstate and foreign
commerce .
The parties agree that these facts, which do not include all facts known to the
United States and AMARO , are sufficient to prove the offense to which AMARO is
pleading guilty.
Respectfully submitted ,
JUAN ANTONIO GONZALEZ
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
Date: 11-14-2022 By:
SUSAN OSBORNE
ASSIA
SThN/ . UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
I l ,.
I .,..,,_..,
By: l_,,/ ·
OMAR iJOHANSSON
ATTORNEY F R DEFENDANT
JOSE RAUL AMARO
DEFENDANT
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