Date: December 11, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov MIAMI — Samuel Harris, who was a police officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), was sentenced today, Dec. 11, to 4 months in prison, followed by 4 months in home detention by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr., after previously pleading guilty to wire fraud in connection with his fraudulent applications for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), and an EIDL advance. According to the facts admitted at the change of plea hearing on July 3, Harris, who was a full-time MDPD police officer, also was the owner and president of Oregen Digital, Inc. (Oregen). Working with an associate, on June 29, 2020, Harris submitted and caused to be submitted a false and fraudulent PPP loan application falsely claiming that Oregen had 10 employees and a monthly payroll of over $50,000 per month. In support of this application, Harris submitted a fraudulent IRS Form W-3 falsely claiming that Oregen had paid 10 employees over $602,000 in wages during 2019. As a result of this false and fraudulent application, Harris obtained a $125,579 PPP loan from a Georgia-based SBA-approved PPP lender. Harris also admitted that on June 30, 2020, he caused to be submitted to the SBA a false and fraudulent EIDL application in the name of Oregen, seeking both an EIDL and an EIDL advance. In this fraudulent application, Harris falsely claimed that for the twelve-month period prior to January 31, 2020, Oregen had gross revenues of over $859,000 and 10 employees. As a result of this fraudulent application, Oregen obtained from the SBA a $10,000 EIDL advance that did not need to be repaid and $149,900 in EIDL loan proceeds. At sentencing, Judge Scola also ordered that Harris serve 3 years of supervised release, including 4 months in home detention, after Harris completes his prison term, and that Harris make full restitution in the amount of $285,479. U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Matthew D. Line of the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), Miami Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI, Miami Field Office, SBA OIG's Eastern Region Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite, U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG), Investigations Division's Eastern Region, Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) Interim Director Stephanie V. Daniels of, and Inspector General Felix Jimenez of the Miami-Dade County Office of Inspector General (MDC OIG)announced the guilty plea. The FBI's Miami Area Corruption Task Force, which includes task force officers from the MDPD and MDC-OIG, investigated the case in conjunction with IRS-CI and SBA OIG. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward N. Stamm prosecuted the case. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
