Feds Seize $158,000 From Accounts of Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne in Alleged Fraud Case Related to Hurricane Relief Funds

The United States has taken the first steps toward seizing more than $158,000 from accounts in the names of Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne, claiming the funds represent the proceeds of their alleged fraudulent activities regarding a contract with the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority for the storage and maintenance of timber purchased for the area as hurricane relief supplies.

Complaints filed with the court on Monday indicate that the money is in three Banco Popular accounts; $62,989.05 on an account associated with the d/b/a name Poker Run, $71,470.21 on an account associated with the d/b/a name D&S Trucking, and $24,287.38 on 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” of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority. According to prosecutors, this points to the “concerted efforts” that Charlemagne made to spend the money paid to them under the woodpile contract. As detailed in the original indictment, the money was allegedly used to pay credit card bills, purchase equipment and fireworks, and to transfer money to himself.

Money was transferred to the Poker Run account from the suspect’s personal bank accounts, 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 allegedly received money directly from ISG – the company that allegedly submitted the fraudulent bid (prepared by Mr. Charlemagne) to VIHFA for the management of the woodpile. “There is no evidence that Charlemagne’s Poker Run venture was part of the lumber contract between ISG and D&S Trucking,” the complaint said. Likewise, the other accounts both received and transferred funds related to the fraudulent contract.

Prosecutors allege that moving money between these accounts was a key part of Charlemagne’s conspiracy to conceal the origins of the money. The bank accounts would also have been used mainly for the flow of illicit funds and not for anything else; payments under the lumber contract represented “more than 90% of the funds in the D&S Trucking bank account,” according to a court document. Meanwhile, deposits into the couple’s personal account, “ostensibly from Davidson Charlemagne’s employment with the VI Department of Education,” accounted for just 18% of the money deposited between January 2019 and November 22.

The FBI investigator charged with unraveling the financial flows of the alleged scheme says the three accounts from which the government is trying to recover money are not the only places where Charlemagne has stashed money. They are alleged to have “further used other accounts and financial instruments not yet discovered by the government to conceal the source and destination of the fraudulent timber contract proceeds.”

If investigators discover these additional accounts and instruments, it is expected that they will take action to forfeit these funds and assets as well.