Factual Proffer — U.S. v. Yunior Barrera Almaguer (S.D. Fla.)
Summary
A factual proffer in United States of America v. Yunior Barrera Almaguer, Case No. 22-80118-CR-MIDDLEBROOKS/MATTHEWMAN, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, entered on the docket November 9, 2022 as Document 96. It states that in or around June 2020 the defendant caused fraudulent PPP loan applications for companies including Construction47, Inc., Penas Concrete Pumping Corp. and Garcia & Son Remodeling Services, Corp., overstating employees and payroll. It states that lenders including Kabbage and TD Bank transferred approximately $8 million in PPP funds from June to July 2020. It describes blank pre-signed checks and transfers among companies in the scheme, and the defendant agrees to assisting in obtaining or laundering approximately $8.4 million. The proffer is dated 11-8-2022.
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Cite this document
“Factual Proffer — U.S. v. Yunior Barrera Almaguer (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-96-s-d-fla-12936ac1e9/
, SHA-256 ca0416227c4eb7efcd4696d4c81644e99454cd5b164534a2de44b452cebb6861.Full text
Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 96 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/09/2022 Page 1 of 5
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
Case No. 22-80118-CR-MIDDLEBROOKS/MATTHEWMAN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
YUNIOR BARRERA ALMAGUER,
Defendant.
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 required to provide, among other things ,
Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 96 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/09/2022 Page 2 of 5
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.
In or around June 2020 , YUNIOR BARRERA ALMAGUER (BARRERA)
caused the submission of fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of multiple
companies. Specifically, BARRERA gathered the owner name , social security
number, date of birth , mailing address , and email address , and the bank account
routing number for companies such as Construction47 , Inc. , Penas Concrete
Pumping Corp. , Garcia & Son Remodeling Services , Corp ., and others . BARRERA
had an unindicted co-conspirator use interstate wire communications to
electronically view and sign a PPP Loan Application Form on behalf of these
companies , and falsely represent that each company had more employees and a
higher average monthly payroll than each had in order to obtain the PPP loan .
From June to July 2020 , based on the false information in the PPP loan
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Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 96 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/09/2022 Page 3 of 5
applications , Bank of America (BofA) , Celtic Bank, Cross River Bank, Kabbage , and
TD Bank approved the loans and transferred approximately $8 million in PPP funds
via interstate wire communication to the companies . For example , on or about July
1, 2020 , based on the false information provided in the PPP loan applications ,
Kabbage approved loans and transferred the following amounts in PPP funds via
interstate wire communication : $505 ,952 to Construction47's BofA account, for which
co-defendant EDUARDO RAMOS LEYVA (RAMOS) was the only signatory;
$720 ,860 to Penas Concrete's BofA account, for which co-defendant LEINER PENA
INFANTE (PENA) was the only signatory; and $515,873 to Garcia & Son 's BofA
account, for which VANDRE GARCIA HERNANDEZ (GARCIA) was the only
signatory.
Bank records showed that the companies had low balances and no evidence
of payroll payments prior to receipt of the PPP funds. For example, immediately prior
to receipt of the PPP funds , Construction47's BofA account had a balance of
approximately $19 ,930 .73 , of which $10 ,000 was an Economic Injury Disaster Loan
payment from the SBA, Penas Concrete 's BofA account had a balance of
approximately $3 ,200 , and Garcia & Son 's BofA account had a balance of
approximately $41.87. After these companies received their PPP loans, BARRERA
instructed RAMOS, PENA, and GARCIA to give him blank, pre-signed checks drawn
on each company BofA account so that BARRERA could access the PPP funds.
RAMOS, PENA, and GARCIA also wrote checks on the companies' accounts at
BARRERA's direction.
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Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 96 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/09/2022 Page 4 of 5
For example, on July 24 , 2020 , BARRERA directed RAMOS to write a check
to Garcia & Son in the amount of $25 ,000 from Construction47's BofA account, using
monies in part from the PPP loan as described above. Garcia & Son deposited the
check in Miami-Dade County into its BofA account, followed by which Garcia & Son
wrote checks sending the funds to other companies involved in the scheme , such as
Saihdel Trucking, Inc. , which had also received its own PPP loan in the same scheme
with BARRERA. On October 7 , 2020 , BARRERA directed PENA to write checks to
EBO Construction in the amounts of $22,000 and $8 ,000 respectively from Penas
Concrete's BofA account, using monies from the PPP loan as described above. EBO
Construction had also received its own PPP loan in the same scheme with
BARRERA and was controlled by BARRERA. After receiving these checks , EBO
Construction deposited them in Miami-Dade County into its Wells Fargo account,
followed by which EBO Construction wrote checks sending the funds to BARRERA's
company , YBA Auto .
BARRERA agrees that he assisted in obtaining and/or laundering
approximately $8.4 million in PPP funds through the scheme described above. At all
times relevant to the offense conduct, BofA and Wells Fargo were banks , the deposits
of which were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , and which were
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
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Case 9:22-cr-80118-DMM Document 96 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/09/2022 Page 5 of 5
United States and BARRERA , are sufficient to prove the offense to which BARRERA is
pleading guilty.
Respectfully submitted ,
JUAN ANTONIO GONZALEZ
UN ITED STATES ATTORNEY
Date : 11-8-2022 By ~ D:sb--
SUSAN OSBORNE
ASSISTANT UN ITED STATES ATTORNEY
Date : 1, lrf v l By:
Date : 11 J ~ / vL By:
YUN R BARRERA ALMAGUER
DEF NDANT
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