Three accused of PPP fraud
MIRAMAR — Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged three more South Florida residents with multiple counts of fraud for obtaining federal funds through an alleged $24 million kickback scheme involving Paycheck Protection Program loans.
PPP loans were established under the CARES Act, enacted by the federal government in March, to provide economic assistance for American workers, families, and small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the criminal complaint affidavits, Andre M. Clark, 46, of Miramar, Keyaira Bostic, 31, of Pembroke Pines, and Damion O. McKenzie, 38, of Miami Gardens, along with co-conspirators, submitted fraudulent applications in order to obtain small business loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, and submitted falsified documents, including fake bank statements and payroll tax forms, as part of the application process.
Federal prosecutors allege that once Clark, Bostic and McKenzie submitted applications for their own companies, they then recruited and referred “other business owners to their co-conspirators for the purpose of creating and submitting additional fraudulent PPP loan applications.”
They also received a kickback for each referral once a loan was approved and funded, according to the charging documents.
Many of the loan applications were approved and more than $17
million was paid out by financial institutions, prosecutors said.
Clark, Bostic and McKenzie are each charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.
Accused co-conspirators Phillip J. Augustin, 51, of Coral Springs, and Wyleia Nashon Williams, 44, of Fort Lauderdale, were charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, in a federal criminal complaint filed July 28 in Ohio.
James R. Stote, 54, of Hollywood, and Ross Charno, 46, of Fort Lauderdale, were charged on June 24, records show.
“The defendants allegedly participated in an extensive nationwide scheme to file at least 90 fraudulent applications for millions of dollars in PPP loans in exchange for illegal kickbacks of portions of the loan proceeds,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.
McKenzie, Clark, and Bostic made their first appearances in federal court on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale.
Anyone with information about attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721.
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