I'm looking to see what everybody else does when they cannot find enough reasonable experienced help

I recently have given an opportunity to someone who I know has criminal background. However there has been such a need for people who want to work without expecting 70 to 80 an hour, that this is a situation I find myself in.

The above might be a slight exaggeration but it is not much. I have given small jobs and small opportunities to the person and now I'm considering what I need to do to be able to write off the amount that he is paid. So the first concern I have is if he is getting cash at what point am I no longer able to prove that I paid him that money?

He does not have the bank account and he's not willing to open a bank account. The way that people are typically paid is through check or direct deposit. There is an app that can be downloaded on the phone that we get small amounts of money to when needed but we didn't want to do a huge amounts. I just want to make sure as far as the IRS is concerned that whatever is being paid to the person is actually tax deductible. Does anybody have any advice?