Davidson Charlemagne
The United States has taken the first steps towards the seizure of over $158,000 from accounts in the name of Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne, claiming that the funds represent the proceeds of their alleged fraudulent activity regarding a contract with the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority for the storage and maintenance of wood purchased for the territory as hurricane relief supplies.
Complaints filed in the District Court on Monday indicate that the monies reside in three Banco Popular accounts; $62,989.05 in an account associated with the d/b/a name Poker Run, $71,470.21 in an account associated with the d/b/a name D&S Trucking, and $24,287.38 in a third account under their personal names only.
The money, according to the three complaints, is a fraction of the approximately $3.1 million that “flowed directly into bank accounts controlled by Davidson Charlemagne and Sasha Charlemagne” from the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority. This, prosecutors say, indicates the “concerted efforts” made by the Charlemagnes to spend the money paid to them under the terms of the wood pile contract. As outlined in the initial criminal complaint, the money was reportedly used to pay credit card bills, buy equipment, fireworks, and to make cash transfers to themselves.
Money was transferred to the Poker Run account from the personal bank accounts of the accused, and these transfers “often coincided with transfers from D&S Trucking to Davidson Charlemagne, which were then transferred to the Poker Run account.” The account also reportedly received money directly from ISG - the company that allegedly submitted the fraudulent bid (prepared by Mr. Charlemagne) to VIHFA for management of the wood pile. “There is no evidence that the Charlemagnes’ business Poker Run was part of the wood contract between ISG and D&S Trucking,” the complaint states. Similarly, the other accounts both received and transferred funds connected to the fraudulent contract.
Prosecutors allege that the shuffling of money between these accounts was a key part of the Charlemagnes’ conspiracy to conceal the source of funds. The bank accounts were also allegedly primarily used for the flow of illicit funds rather than anything else; payments under the wood contract represented “more than 90% of the funds in the D&S Trucking bank account,” said one court document. Meanwhile, payroll deposits into the couple's personal account, “ostensibly from Davidson Charlemagne's employment with the VI Department of Education,” made up only 18% of the funds deposited between January 2019 and November 22.
The FBI investigator tasked with unraveling the financial flows of the alleged scheme says that the three accounts from which the government seeks to recover funds are not the only places the Charlemagnes stashed money. They allegedly “further used other accounts and financial instruments not yet discovered by the government to conceal the source and disposition of the fraudulent proceeds of the wood contract.”
If investigators uncover these additional accounts and instruments, it is expected that they will move to have these monies and assets forfeited as well.
