Christian McKenzie, of Wheatley Heights, sentenced to 2½ years in prison for COVID relief fraud

A Wheatley Heights man was sentenced to 2½ years in prison on Tuesday for his role  in a scheme to steal nearly $3 million in pandemic business-relief loans.

Christian McKenzie, 48, also was ordered by a federal judge in Brooklyn to pay restitution of $122,275 and criminal forfeiture of $55,444. After leaving prison, he will serve 2 years' probation.

In August, McKenzie pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faced up to 30 years in prison.

McKenzie  is among at least 35 Long Islanders who have been arrested for bilking more than $100 million from federal and state COVID-19 relief programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Employee Retention Credit, a Newsday analysis found.

In Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati said McKenzie helped his cousin, John Bolden, a former NYPD homicide detective from Valley Stream, to defraud the PPP between May 2020 and September 2022. The program offered forgivable bank loans to businesses so they could keep paying their employees when the coronavirus shut down much of the economy.

Last month, the judge sentenced Bolden, 47, to four years in prison.

McKenzie's "conduct was brazen and resulted in significant losses" to the U.S. Small Business Administration, which oversaw the PPP, the judge said Tuesday, adding she was troubled by a letter from McKenzie in which he minimized his role in the fraud scheme.

McKenzie received two PPP loans totaling $40,442 in 2020-21 by submitting false loan applications. He then helped at least nine friends and associates fraudulently win another $740,852 from the PPP, according to court filings.

McKenzie also received at least $15,000 in kickbacks from the friends and associates, the filings state.

Before announcing the sentence, Judge Gujarati chastised McKenzie for falsely accusing federal prosecutors of fraud in a complaint that he filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

"It was beyond the pale," the judge said, referring to the complaint. "You can call it stupid but it was way more than that."

McKenzie's attorney, Thomas H. Nooter, replied, "He's just not that bright. It has to do more with a lack of intelligence."

McKenzie didn't mention the IRS complaint when he addressed the judge, instead focusing on how he had been hoodwinked by his police-detective cousin into defrauding the U.S. government's marquee pandemic-relief program for businesses and his role as a single parent to his 10-year-old son, who suffers from autism.

"I trusted someone who was in law enforcement and I was misled," McKenzie said, adding that his cousin produced all the false Schedule C tax forms that accompanied the fake loan application. "I didn't fill out any paperwork. I just referred my friends who had businesses to my cousin."

In the June 22 letter to the judge, McKenzie said he never sought kickbacks from the friends but some "gave me a little 'tip,' which I accepted" once they'd received their PPP loan.  

McKenzie has worked as a medical courier, warehouse employee and sold sneakers online. McKenzie said he, his son and his disabled adult brother live in a house that's facing foreclosure

Federal prosecutor Andrew Grubin called McKenzie the No. 2 player in the fraud scheme.

"The defendant not only applied for [PPP loans] that he wasn't entitled to but referred others to John Bolden with the result being the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars," the prosecutor said in court. "This meant less money for the people who needed it." 

The other defendant in the case, Anthony Carreira, 44, of Staten Island, pleaded guilty and received no prison time when he was sentenced in March. He retired in 2023 from his job as an NYPD detective. 

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.