Damion Mckenzie — Criminal Complaint
Summary
This criminal complaint in the Southern District of Florida charges Damion Mckenzie with wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy and attempt to commit wire and bank fraud, for conduct in 2020. The supporting affidavit, by a federal special agent based in Miami, says Mckenzie took part in a plan to obtain millions of dollars in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans with a cooperating source, CHS 2, who supplied falsified documents and submitted applications. It says the conspirators recruited other applicants in exchange for kickbacks, often about 25% of the loan proceeds, recycled nearly identical fabricated bank statements, and planned or prepared at least 90 fraudulent applications, with approximately 42 loans approved and funded.
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
- Captured
- 2026-09-26
- Source site
- www-justice-gov
Archived web capture. Preserved source — captured from www-justice-gov; archived 2026-09-26.
Full text
AO91(Rev08/()
y)CrlmlnalCompl
alnl
U NITED STATESD ISTRICT COURT
forthe
StputhernDistrictofFlorida
UnitedStatesofAmerica
V.
DamionMckenzie, casexo.g p -p'yzy
flehmdanltsl
CRIM INAL COM PLAINT
1.thecomplainantinthiscase, statethatthefol
lowingistruetothebestofmyknowledgeandbelief.
Onoraboutthedatets)of M4y15p)pl
y;.
,.
,;.lgp
. inthecountyof Broward inthe
%pp!.r
.h:n -.--...
.- D iti
srctof Florda
i ..
. ...
....
,, .... . t
hedefndant
e ts)vi ae
olîd:
Codeu
% c#(?z? (l
Llfkt
tseDt
d-
î.
cr/pl&?p?
18U.S.C.jj1M 3and2 Wire Fraud
18U.S.C.sâ1M4and2 BankFraud
18U.S.C.5 1349 Conspiracy/A ttem ptto Comm itW ire and BankFraud
Thiscriminalcomplaintisbasedonthesefacts:
SEEAU ACHED AFFIDAVIT.
W Continuedontheat
tachedshe
et.
4
A
('*.f)?
,?/#(
./
.&,(fz'?f%'signulure
Mi .,,. vni
chA#IB
,, vqgna,Spr i
ylAg#pt,lR,sr4l
Printednamezzat/title
AttestedîobytheapplicantinaccordafwcwiththerequiremenlsofFed. R.Crim.P.4.lbytelephone.
Date: . 1 XO
Judge'
sx/kaalt/
rf
?
City and state: - .... Ft,Lpvd-qrdpl
. - .... e,Fl
vri.. Hpn, qyt
. x
u
li
ç.
k--y-ul
j.
pp!zu,,
s.,Mp.
giqtrpteJpdg....
. -
itrlntt
etzu
'?racf,
,,ktitli
t
. ''
AFFID AVIT
1,M ichaelBenivegna,beingGrstduly sw orn,hereby deposeandstateasfollows:
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 inalcom plaint charging DA M ION
MCKENZIE ('VM CKENZI '
E'or çiDefendant'
'),with wire fraud,bank fraud,at
temptand
conspiracytocommitwirefraudandbankfraud,inviolationof18U.S.C.jj1343,1344,1349,
and2,from on oraboutM ay 15,2020to atleastonoraboutJuly 2,2020,in the Southern District
ofFlorida,andelsewhere(thegt-rargetOffenses'
').
2. Defendanthasparticipated in a schem e to obtain by fraud m illionsofdollars in
forgivable loansthrough the Paycheck Protection Program (i
iPPP'
') and othergovernment
programs,conspiringwithapersonnow cooperatingwiththeinvestigation(C
SCHS29')andothers.
DefendantsoughtafraudulentPPP loan forhisown company,Five Pluslnvestm entGroupLLC
(t
tFive PIus'*),with CHS 2 providing falsified documents and submit
ting the application on
Defendant'sbehalf. Defendantalso conspired to subm ita num berofadditionalfraudulentPPP
Ioan applicationsforothercom paniesby recruitingotherconfederateloan applicants,in orderto
receive kickbacks from those confedem tes. To intlate the size of these PPP loans,and the
corresponding kickbacks,the conspiratorsrelied on a variety of false statem ents,including by
subm itting falsified bank statementsand payrolltax form s. Forexam ple,the conspiratorsused
nearly identicalversionsofthe sam efabricated bank statements,recycled inthePPP applications
form ultiple companiesw ithm inorchanges.
The conspirators in the schem e planned or prepared at Ieast 90 fraudulent
applicationssm ostofwhich were subm t
ited. Based ontheevidence investigatorshave reviewed
to dateeCH S2,Defendant,and theirco-conspiratorsapplied forPPP loansthataretogetherworth
morethan$24mil
liondol
lars,withatleastapproximately42ofthoseloansapprovedandfunded
foratotalof-approximately$17.4m il
lion.Certainofthoseloanrecipientsthenwiredakickback
ofvarying amounts,often approxim ately 25% ofthe fkaudulentloan proceeds,to an account
control
led by CH S2.
4. Iam aSpecialAgentwiththeUnited StatesDepartmentofTheTreasury,lnternal
RevenueService,CriminallnvestigationC$lRS-C1'
')andhavebeenemployedinthiscapacitysince
October2016. lam presently assir ed to theM iamiField Oftk e. M y dutiesasaSpecialA gent
includetheinvestigationofpossiblecriminalviolationsofthelnternalRevenueCode(Title26of
theUnitedStatesCode),theBankSecrecyAct(Title31oftheUnitedStatesCode),andtheM oney
Laundering Statutes (Title 18 ofthe United StatesCode).lgaduated from the Criminal
InvestigatorTraining Program attheFederalLaw Enforcem entTraining CenterinA pril20l7and
the Special Agent Investigative Techniques program at the N ational Crim inalInvestigation
TrainingAcademy in July 2017. In thesetwo programs,1studied avariety oflaw enforcem ent
tacticsand crim inalinvestigatortechniquesrelating to tax and financialcrim es.Since becom ing
an IRS-CISpecialAgent,lhavepersonally investigated and assisted in investigationsrelatingto
the lnternalRevenueLaw sand financialcrim es. Recently,Ihavebeenassignedtow ork with the
U.S.Departm entofJusticeand otherlaw enforcem entpartners,including the FederalBureau of
lnvestigation and the Sm allBusinessA dm inistration Offk e ofInspectorGenem l,to investigate
possible fraud associated w ith the stim ulus and econom ic assistance program s created by the
federalgovernmentinresponsetotheCOVID-19program .
The factsin thisA ffqdavitcom e from m y personalobservations,my training and
experience,andinformation obtainedfrom otherm em bersoflaw enforcem entandfrom witnesses.
Page2 of13
ThisAffidavitisintended to show m erely thatthere issufficientprobable cause and doesnotset
forth l
alofm yknow ledgeaboutthism atter.1
PR O BA BLE CAUSE
TheJk pc/leck Protection Pros am
6. TheCoronavirusAid,Relief,andEconomicSecurityCVCARES'
')Actisafedeml
law enacted in oraround M arch 2020 and designed to provide em ergency fm ancialassistanceto
the m l
ilions of A mericans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COV1D-19
pandemic.OnesourceofreliefprovidedbytheCARESActwastheauthorizationofupto$349
bil
lioninforgivableIoanstosnzl
albusines
sesforjobretentionandcertainotherexpenses,through
aprogram referredtoasthePPP.InoraroundApril2020,Congressauthorizedover$300billion
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 busin s
es(through itsauthorized representative)to acknowledge the
program rulesand m akecertain affirm ative certitk ationsin orderto beeligible to obtainthe PPP
loan.InthePPPloanapplication,thesmal
lbusin s
es(throughitsauthorizedrepresentative)must
state,amongotherthings,its:(a)averagemonthlypayrol
lexpenses;and(b)numberofemployees.
n esefiguresare used to calculate theamountofmoney the sm l
albusinessiseligible to receive
underthe PPP. ln addition,businesses applying for a PPP Ioan m ustprovide docum entation
show ingtheirpayrollexpenses.
1 Theconductandchargesdescribed in thisAffidavitarepartofa largerinvestigation that
is being conducted in thisD istrictand elsewhere. As a result,notallnum bered sources and
anonymousindividualsand entitiesaredescribed in everyfiling. Ihave included in thisAffidavit
onlythose individualsandentities1havedeemednecessarytoexplaintheparticularfactssetforth
here.
Page3 of13
A PPP loanapplication m ustbeprocessed by aparticipating lender.lfaPPP loan
application isapproved,thepadicipating lenderfundsthePPP loan using itsown m onies,w hich
are100% guaranteedbytheSmallBusinessAdministration(éçSBA '').Datafrom theapplication,
including inform ation aboutthe borrower,the totalam ountofthe loan,and the listed num berof
employees,istransm ittedbythelendertotheSBA inthecourseofprocessingtheIoan.
9. PPP loanproceedsm ustbe used by the businessoncertain perm issibleexpenses
payrollcosts,intereston m ortgages.rent,and utilities. The PPP allowsthe interestand principal
onthePPP loan to beentirely forgivenifthe businessspendsthe loanproceedson theseexpense
item sw ithin adesignatedperiodoftim eafterreceivingtheproceedsand usesa certain am ountof
the PPP loanproceedson payrollexpenses.
TheSchemeto Obtain FraudulentPPP Loans
10. OnoraboutMay l3,2020,Phil
lip J.Augtlstin CsAugustin'
')and CHS2worked
togetherto subm itafraudulentPPP loanapplicationon behalfofacom pany ow nedbyA ugustin.
Augustin submittedaPPP loanof$84,515toafederal
ly insuredbank(hereinafterçsBank3'
'),
throughathird-party company proces
sor(hereinafter''Bank Processor1',).2 Theapplication
includedbank statementsthatareclearforgeries,and CHS 2hasadm itted thattheapplicationw as
based on docum entsthathe falsified forAugustin.3
2 A1l banks referenced in this Affidavit are insured by the FederalDeposit lnsurance
Corporation.
OnJune25,2020,investigatorsar
restedCHS2andanotherjersonnow cooperatingwith
theinvestigation(ûECHS39')andexecutedsearchwar
rantsattheirresldences.Fol
lowinghisar
rest,
CH S2 chosetocooperatew iththe investigation inthehopeofobtaining favorableconsideration
in connectionw ithhispending charges. CH S2 wasinterviewed onthatday,and hascontinuedto
cooperate w ith the investigation afterobtaining counsel. M ostofhisstatementsrelated herein
have been corroborated by recordsobtained from third partiesorrecovered from hiselectronic
devices.
Page4 of13
Follow ingthesuccessofthatinitialfraudulentPPP application,Augustin and CH S
2 began to work on obtaining m ore and largerPPP loansfbrAugustin'sassociatesand others,
general
lyforseveralhundredthousanddol
larsforeachloan,uptoasmuchasapproximately$1.24
mil
lion. Based on the evidence investigators have reviewed so far,CH S 2 and Augustin
col
lectivelycoordinatedapplicationsforPPPloansthataretogetherworthmorethan$24mil
lion
dol
lars.TheevidencealsoshowsmanymorePPPloanswereat
temptedbutrejectedbybanksor
theirpartners,orw ere planned and prepared,but not stlbm t
ited before CH S 2's arrest. The
evidence suggeststhatallor nearly allofthose loan applications were fraudulent,including
Defendant'sloan application andtheapplicationsDefendantorchestrated by referring additional
confederatestotheconspiracy.
12. lnvestigators have obtained m any other PPP loan applicationsthat CH S 2 has
adm ittedhesubm ittedaspartofthisscheme,basedonfalsifieddocum ents,andhavealsoobtained
draftdocum entsusedorintendedto beused inthoseapplicationsorothers.Theseapplicationsall
follow the sam e pat
tern of fraud many w ith obviously counterfeit February 2020 bank
statements,and l
alwith fabricated IRS Forms941 (titled,StEmployer'sQuarterly FederalTax
Return'
')withthesameindiciaoffraudfoundinAugustin'sinitialapplication butgeneral
lywith
even largerinflated payrollnumbers,thusyielding m uch largerloans.4 CH S 2 hasexplained to
investigatorsthatthe figuresinthe Forms941w eretheproductofaform ula thatallowed him to
startw ithatargetloanam ount,andthen ivback into'
' thepayrollfiguresontheform .Heexplained
how heused tiguresthatwouldproduceanaveragem onthlypayrollfor2019that,w henm ultiplied
by 2.5,would yield the requested loan am ount. In turn,the numberofemployeesreported w as
4 Som e loan applicationsalso included voided checksthatappearto t)efalsitied,such asa
purportedBank5checkthatappearstohaveIxenproducedonacomputerand,asthesubjectline
reads,Sûconverted toPD F,'r
' atherthan ascan ofanauthenticcheck.
Page5 of13
chosen based on tk tionalpayrollfigures,chosen toavoid an averageem ployee salary thatm ight
raise suspicion.
CH S 2 hasalso explained thathe tried to use bank statem ents showing thatthe
com pany had a large balance. Becauseso few companieshad such a statem ent,and likely also
becauseitwaseasierthankeepingtrackoftheirtruestatelnents,CH S2repeatedly subm itted near-
replicasofthesame falsifiedbank statem ents.ln particular,CH S 2 appearsto have recycled one
statementeach from Bank l,Bank 6,and Bank 7. ln recycling a statement,CH S 2 general
ly
changed only the accountnum berand the accotlntholder's nalne and address,such thateach
version ofthe statem enthad identicalfiguresand lineitenzsthroughoutthe statenzent.
A review ofrecordsforbank accountscontrolledbyCH S2atBank 5confinnCH S
2'sadm issionsthathe received numerouskickbacks,often ofapproxim ately 25% oftheam ount
ofthe loans,and thathe regularly w ired Augustin a shareofthatkickback in the early stagesof
the schem e. CH S 2 explained thatthey were doing so many loansby the end ofM ay thathe
changed course,instead w iring largerlump sum s,collecting Augustin'ssharesofthekickbacks
form ultiple loansin onew ire.
lnvestigatorsare st l
ilreceivingand analyzingrecords,butbased on a prelim inary
analysis,asofJuly24,2020,invcstigatorshadidentified atotalof$2,367,765.82 intransfersto
CH S 2'saccountsfrom entitiesthateach obtained a si
zable PPP loan and thatw ere identified in
thePPP tslesseizedfrom CH S 2'sand anotherco-conspirator'sresidences,asdescribedbelow
orfrom individualsassociated w iththoseentities.
n ePPP loansidentified aboveasimplicated inthe foregoing kickback paym ents
to CH S 2 representonly a fm ction ofthe over l
alscheme. In executing search w arrantsatthe
respective residencesofCHS 2 and CH S 3.federalagentsfound stacksofpaperprinted outand
Page6 of13
organized by entity,containing an dtintake form '
,'fabricated Form s94l,orboth foreach entity.
The intake fonnscontained fieldsforthe information needed to fabricatethe documentsand f5l
l
outotheraspectsofthe PPP application:identifying inform ation aboutthe ownerand com pany,
asw ellasbank accountinformationforreceivingtheloan.A section attheendm arkedStBELOW
ISOFFICE USEONLY''includedblankfieldsforthekiNumberofEmployees,'i
'iM onthlyPayrol
l
Expense,'and
' V:SBA Loan Pre-ApprovalA mount'
.' Between CH S 2's and CH S 3'sresidences,
investigatorsseizedpaperfilesforPPP loanapplicationsforapproxim ately 80 differententities.
Data obu ined from the SBA show ed additionalPPP loan applications from
additionalentities thattextm essage and em ailrecords show had been referred to CHS 2 by
Defendantorotherindividuals.
TheFraudulentPPP LoantoDefendant'sCb- flay.'FivePlus
18. AccordingtoFlorida'sDivisionofCorporationswebsite(û
ûSunbiz'
'),FivePluswas
incorporatedin 2018w ith itslisted principaladdressin M iam i,Florida. M CKEN ZIE islisted on
Sunbiz asone offive managersofFive Plusw ith a separateaddressin M iam iGardens,Florida.
According to separate bank records,on or about M ay 26,2020,M CK ENZIE opened a bank
accountinthename Five Plusand listedhim selfasthe solesignatory onthe account.
19. From on oraboutM ay 16,2020throughon oraboutM ay 19,2020,anapplication
and supportingdocum entsforaPPP loanw ereelectronical
ly subm t
ited onbehalfofFive Plusto
Bank2through BankProcessor l.The submit
ted documentsincluded,amongotherthings:(1)
purportedForms941foralf
l ourquartersof2019;(2)acompanybankstatementforFivePlus;
and(3)twoblankchecks.
20. ThepurportedForms941show quarterlypayrol
lofalmost$300,000eachquarter,
for10 employees. Each wassigned byhand w iththenam ei'Dam ion M cKenzie'
' asthecompany
Page7 of13
owner,and also Iisted M CKEN ZIE asthecom pany'sdesignee and asa t*paid Preparer,''though
he isnotapaid tax preparer. The FivePlusForm s94l follow the sam e style and pat
tern asthe
many otherfalsified Form s941thatCH S 2,describedabove,acknow ledgedthathehelpedcreate
andsubm itin the course ofthe schem e,including in the indiciaoffraud.s IRSrecordsshow that
Five Plusdid not,in fact,file any Form s941forany qual-terof20l9 orthe firstqualterof2020,
and Florida DepartmentofRevenue records show thatFive Plusdid notreportany wagesor
employeesforthatsam eperiod.
21. 'T'
he purported com pany bank statem ent,w hich wassubm itted in electronic,PD F
form at,isaclearforgery.First,thestatementisnotfrom FivePlus'sbank. Second,accordingto
thedocum ent'sf5leS'prom rties,''thestatementw ascreated using(SPDFFILLER ''aprogram used
to editelectronicPDF files,and wasttm odified using i'Ikxt.''
22. lna let
terdatedJune2,2020,BankProcessor1informedM CKEN ZIE thathisPPP
loan applicationwasrejected. Thefol
lowingreasonwasstatedonthelet
terfortherejection:
Elunableto verify Applicant'sidentity from documentssubm itted ordiscrepanciesin inform ation
sublnit
ted.'
'
5 Asnotedabove,M CKEN ZIE waslistedasbothownerandpaidpreparer.Dozensofother
Form s 94l subm itted in thisscheme evidence the sam e error. CH S 2 has adm t
ited thatthese
documentssharethatfeaturel causehemisunderstoodtheform,and he(orsomeonefollowing
hisinstructions)preparedalIoftheForms94latissue.Thecontentoftheformsalsoindicate
falsification. AlIfourquarterly form sare nearly identical,and the fourform sforFive Plus are
identical,dow ntothepenny,inreported figures.Theyalsoevidenceapatternofpayrollspending
thatislikely false:each ofthequartersshowsincreasesfrom thefirstto second tothird m onthof
the quarter.Foreach identicalform ,the same figuresarereportedforthetax liability incurred in
thetirstmonthofeachquarter,thesamefigureforthesecondmonthofeachquarter(increased
from thefirstmonth),andthesamefigureforthethirdmonthofeachquarter(increasedfrom the
secondmonth). The resultisthatthecompany reportsaperfectly repeatingcycleofascending
payrollcostsw ithineach quarter,droppingdown again atthe startofthenextquat
ter.CHS2 has
explained thatthisw asdueto aformulaheused,allocatingdifferentpercentagesofthequarterly
payrolltax liability toeach month ofeach qualer.
Page8 of13
CHS2Cbaflr- #toLaw Faf/rce- a/thattheFive#/1/,
çPpp LoanAlmlication rFJ,
:
Fraudulent
Investigatorsspoke with CH S 2 aboutM CKEN ZIE and the Five PlusPPP loan.
CHS 2 stated thathe had m etM CKEN ZIE through Augustin. Accordingto CH SZ,thethreeof
them had discussed M CKENZIE'S PPP loan,as wellas M CKEN ZIE*S referrals,for which
M CK EN ZIE w'ould receivea smallcut.A sstatedabove,CH S2 andA ugustin had already av eed
tosharethe25% kickbackpaymentsthatCHS2wouldusual
ly receivefrom referrals,including
from M CK EN ZIE'Sreferrals.
As to the Five Plus PPP loan,CH S 2 confinmed thatthe loan application was
fraudulent.CH S2statedthathe:(1)createdfbrM CKENZIE anonlineaccountfbrFivePluswith
Bank Processor1:(2)createdand submitted thefakeFivePlusbank statement;and (3)created
and subm t
ited the false Form s94l. A ccording to CH S2,however,heem ailed the Form s94lto
M CKENZIE unsigned,andthenM CKENZIEemailedtheformsbacktohim w ithsir atures.(As
described below ,lhave reviewed emailsthatappearto corrobomte CHS 2'sdescription ofthis
emailexchange.)
25. AccordingtoCHS2,M CKENZIE'SPPPloanapplicationwasultimatelyrejected.
26. IP session recordsfrom Bank Processor 1 corrobomteC HS 2'sstatementthathe
assisted w iththesubm issionoftheFivePlusloan application. Bank Processor1'sIP recordsfor
thatloanapplicationshowthatacomputerwithanIPaddr s
es(endingin170)as
sociatedwithCHS
2'sresidenceinBroward County,Florida,logged into theFivePlusloan accountasearly asM ay
l6,2020. Thesessionrecordsalsorevealsubsequentloginsby thesame IP address(endingin
170),aswel
lasbyacomputerassociatedwiththeBrowardCountyresidenceofoneofAugustin's
as
sociates,andbymobiledevices.Oneofthosemobiledevices(withanIP addressingendingin
Page9 of13
250)logged intotheFivePlusloan accountasearly asM ay 16,2020,and,accordingto bank
records,also accessedM CKEN ZIE'Spersonalbank accountthatday.
27. CH S 2 also stated that,in addition to theFivePlusloan,M CK EN ZIE referred to
him anum beroffriends/associatesforthepurposeofcreatingandsubm t
itingadditionalfraudulent
PPP loans.Asstatedabove,CHS2andAugustinwould general
lysharethekickbackpayments
fortheserefenuls.CH S2 stated that,atsomepointintheschem e,A ugustin instructedhim notto
pay M CKEN ZIE a portion ofthe kickback paymentsthatCH S 2 received from M CK EN ZIE'S
referrals.AccordingtoCH S2,whenM CKENZIE would inquireaboutnotreceivinghiscut,CH S
2w ouldreferhim to Augustin.
EmailsandTextM essazesCba/l
-r- M CKENZIE 'sKnowinz ParticipationintheFraud
28. As partof its investigation,law enforcementobtained cornm unicationsbetw een
CH S2 andM CKEN ZIE,includingtextm essagesand em ails.lhaverevieweda num berofthese
com m unications,w hich discuss,am ong otherthings,M CKEN ZIE'SPPP loan and the Ioansfor
individualsM CKEN ZIE referred to CHS 2.
29. On oraboutM ay l5,2020,CHS 2 em ailed M CK EN ZIE Form s94lforFive Plus
fora1f
1 ourquartersof20l9.Thetbnnswerefl
iledout(includingstatingthatFivePlushad10
employeesand almost$300,000 in quarterly payrol
l)butwere notsir ed. The same day,
M CK ENZIE em ailed CH S 2 signed copiesofthefourForm s941.
On oraboutM ay 16,2020,M C KENZIE forwarded CH S 2 an emailfrom Bank
Processor 1titled,S'YourPaycheck Protection Prog am loan has been subm ittedv'
' The em ail
stated,inpart:i
iDam ion,YourapplicationwassenttotheSBA tobeprocessed.Basedoncapacity,
theSBA may takeuptoafew daystoprocessyourapplication.'
'
Page10 of13
OnoraboutM ay20,2020,M CKEN ZIE textedCHS2:ûi-l-heysaid thevoidedcheck
isunderreview oncethey donetheyw illem ail'
.'M CKEN ZIE thentexted:1
1Idonthaveabusiness
accountforthisbusi s
nesiam goingtotrytogetoneopentodayjustincasetheyaskforit.'
'
On or about M ay 19,2020,M CKEN ZIE texted CH S 2 w ith inform ation that
appearstorelatetoadif
fel-
entfraudulentloanapplication,including:(l)asocialsecuritynumber'
,
(2)dateofbirth;(3)emailaddress;and(4)employeridentificationnumber($(EIN'').Laterthat
day,MCKENZIEtextedCHS2:licanyougetENAMEREDACTED)at$290k?'
'
33. O noraboutM ay l9,2020,CH S 2 separately em ailed M CK EN ZIE ablank intake
information form to be filled outwith the personaland businessinform ation forM CKEN ZIE'S
refen-als.Andinaseparatetextmessage,CHS2stated:$i1justsentyouaform tof5l
loutwitheach
clientitseasierwith usto upload applicationw eareswam ped A lso ifthecorp and home address
arethesamejustputsameoncorpaddres
s.''OnoraboutMay21,2020,MCIQENZIE emailed
CH S 2com pleted intakeform sregardingtwo referrals.
34. During m y review ofM CKEN ZIE'Scomm unicationsw ith CH S 2,lfound what
appearstobeinform ation pertainingtoatleasttendifferentpeopleandcorporateentities.Further
investigation, including review of data collected by the SBA and bank records,to date has
identifiedPPP loanstotalingmorethan$3.3mil
lioncorrespondingtothesenamesandentities.
BankRecordsCbl/
/irplM CKENZIE'SKnowinzParticipationintheFraud
lhave reviewed CHS 2'sbank records,w hich retlectpaym ents to CH S 2 from
M CKENZIE'S refer
ralsas l
welaspayments by CHS 2 to Augustin (who had brought in
M CKENZIE to thescheme). Forexample,onoraboutM ay 26,2020,CHS 2received awire
transfkrin the amountof$122,155 related to a PPP application in the name ofa company
(hereinafter'Ecompany 14'
')thatM CKENZIE had refer
redtoCHS2. The sameday,from that
Page 11of13
sameaccount,CHS2wired$39,970intooneofAugustin'sbankaccounts.CHS2confirmedthat
thepaym entto Augustin represented hisshareofthekickback from Com pany 14.6
36. Bankrecordsandtextm essagesalsoretlectpaym entsdirectlyto M CK ENZIE fronz
hisreferrals,follow ed by paym entsfrom M CKENZIE to CH S2. Forexam ple,on June 8,2020,
CHS 2 provided M CKENZIE with hisbank accountinformation viatextmessage 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 panyM CKEN ZIE had referred to CH S2.On oraboutJune 11,2020,CH S2 received aw ire
transferintheamountof$80,000directlyfrom FivePlus.n atsameday,from thesameaccount,
CHS2wired$40,000tooneofAugustin'sbank accounts.CHS2explainedto investigatorsthat
the $80,000 transferw'asin connection with oneofM CKENZIE'Sreferrals,who hadwired the
kickbackpaymentdirectlyto M CK ENZIE insteadofCH S2.
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 paymentsof$20,000,$5,000,and $45,000 from three separatecompanies. Dif
ferent
bankingrecordsshow CH S2 received separate paym entsfrom eachofthosethreecom panies.
6 Bankrecordsshow thatonM ay26,2020,thesamedayCHS2paid$39,970toAugustin,
CHS2alsomadeapurchaseatajewelrystoreintheamountof$73,000.
Page 12 of13
CO NCLUSIO N
38. Based ontheforgoing,Irespectfullysubm itthatthereisprobablecauseto believe
thatDAM ION MCKENZIE committedtheTargetOflknses.
FtJRTHER Y()IJR AFFIANT SAYET1INA UGHT.
M ICLIAEL BENIVEGNA
SpecialA gent
IRS-C,I
A ttested tobytheapplicantinaccordance
withtherequirem ents Fed.R. Crim.P.4.1
bytekphoneonthis - Day ofAugust,2020
'
ik
-lk
.
-
. ............... .
HON.PATRIC K M . CIUNNr
UN ITED STATES M AG IS'I'
R ATE JUDG I,:'
Page13of13
UNITED STATESDISTRICT COURT
SO UTH ER N D ISTRIC T O F FLO RIDA
cs
xsxo.q D -1.5+ - .
IN RE :SEALED CO M PLM NT
/
C RIM INA L CO VER SH EET
Did thism at
A teroriginate from a m at
terpending in the CentralRegion ofthe United States
ttorney'sOfficepriortoA ugtlst9, 2013(M ag.JudgeAliciaVal le)? Yes X N o .
Di
A d thism at
teroriginate from am atterpending in theN orthern Region ofthe United States
ttorney'sOfficepriorto August8, 2014(Mag.JudgeShaniekMaynard)? Yes X No
D id thism at
teroriginate from a m at
terpending in the CentralRegion ofthe United St
Att ates
orney'sOfficepriorto October3, 2019(M ag.JtldgeJaredStrauss)? - Yes X.No
Respectfully Subm t
ited,
A RIANA FAJA RDO ORSHAN ROBERT ZIN K
UNITED STA TES ATTORN EY CH IEF,FRAU D SECTION
.3
.' . '
;''
k -t
By: B > Z
DA ID TURK EN
y: f E t.z
PHILIP B.TROU T
A ssistantUnited StatesA ttorney TrialAttorney,FraudSection
FloridaBarN o.28573 U.S.DepartmentofJustice
99N E 1 411Street 1400N ew York AveN W
M iam i,FL 33132 W ashington,DC 20530
Fax:(305)530-6168 Fax:(202)
Tel.(305)961-9430 Tel:(202)616-6989
Email:david.turken@usdoj.gov Email:philip.trout@usdoj.gov
File and source
- File
- dl_ec1726634b478a93.pdf
- Size
- 853,892 bytes
- SHA-256
- 97b4a844fb149a5eac77456143735bc32eb56498ebc2d4854d64324db622d48c
- Our copy
- dl_ec1726634b478a93.pdf
- Original
- www.justice.gov