$17,730 Lease Payment, “Everything Is Traceable,” and ‘Burn the Phone’: Prosecutors Deepen Case Against Martinez and O’Neal

Federal prosecutors used the third day of trial in the U.S. v. Ray Martinez and Jenifer O’Neal case to tighten their narrative around two pivotal themes: the flow of money that ended with a $17,730 lease payment for O’Neal’s planned coffee shop at Yacht Haven Grande, and a June 2024 call in which Martinez, after phones were seized by federal agents, told David Whitaker to “Burn the phone then.” Those moments shaped hours of testimony and recordings that traced how invoices were structured, how money was redirected, and how efforts to conceal communications intensified after federal agents stepped in. The Yacht Haven lease payment was laid out in detail. On April 8, 2024, Whitaker texted O’Neal, asking, “how much money for Charlie,” referring to the Yacht Haven Grande representative handling her lease. In a text shown in court, O’Neal replied, “$17,730.” Jurors then saw the wire transfer that followed: $17,730 sent to Yacht Haven Grande with a memo line reading “Payment to Yacht Haven ...