U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Social Media Influencer Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for $1.5 Million COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme (USAO D-MA 09/07/2023) (2023-09-11)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, dated September 7, 2023, announcing that Danielle Miller, 32, a Miami woman, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to five years in prison and three years of supervised release, with restitution to be determined at a later date. The release states that Miller pleaded guilty in March 2023 to three counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. According to the release, from in or around July 2020 through May 2021 Miller used the personal identifying information of more than 10 individuals and fake business names to obtain more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds and unemployment benefits. It states that Miller used a counterfeit driver's license to arrange a Gulfstream private jet charter.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

PRESS RELEASE



Social Media Influencer Sentenced
to Five Years in Prison for $1.5
Million COVID-19 Relief Fraud
Scheme
Thursday, September 7, 2023

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts

BOSTON – A Miami woman was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for
fraudulently obtaining over $1 million in pandemic-related loans using the stolen
identities of more than 10 individuals and then using those funds for personal expenses,
including chartering a private jet and renting a luxury apartment.

Danielle Miller, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV
to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. Miller was also ordered to
pay restitution in an amount that will be determined at a later date. In March 2023,
Miller pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated
identity theft.

“Ms. Miller isn’t an influencer, she is a convicted felon. She stole the identities of
innocent people to steal over $1.2 million in pandemic-relief loans that should have
gone to people in need. In a quest for fleeting social media stardom, Ms. Miller relied on
fraud to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets, luxury apartments and other
accoutrements of wealth. Today's sentencing should make it crystal clear that curating a
high-society social media presence on the backs of hardworking taxpayers is a path to
prison, not fleeting fame,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy.

“Danielle Miller stole critical financial support from the hands of people who needed it
during one of the most turbulent economic periods in recent history. While other
Americans worried about how to keep food on the table, Miller spent her ill-gotten
gains on hotels and luxury goods, heartlessly flaunting this fraudulent lifestyle on social
media. Today’s sentence is the result of a collaborative team of investigators committed
to uncovering fraud and ensuring taxpayer dollars are going where they should and not
into the hands of scammers like Miller,” said Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of
Homeland Security Investigations in New England.

“Danielle Miller engaged in a scheme targeted at the Massachusetts Department of
Unemployment Assistance, as well as five other state workforce agencies, to fraudulently
obtain pandemic-related unemployment benefits in the names of identity theft victims.
Miller also utilized stolen identities to fraudulently apply for Economic Injury Disaster
Loans. Miller’s schemes sought to secure more than $1 million in stolen benefits set
aside by the federal government to assist Americans struggling with the economic
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to work with our law enforcement
partners to safeguard these critical benefit programs for those who need it,” said
Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent-in-Charge, Northeast Region, U.S. Department of
Labor, Office of Inspector General.

From in or around July 2020 through May 2021, Miller devised and executed a scheme
to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief loans funded by the federal government –
including Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds through the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) as well as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and related
unemployment benefits. To execute the scheme, Miller used the personal identifying
information of more than 10 individuals and used fake business names to apply for and
receive more than $1 million in government benefits.

Additionally, Miller possessed counterfeit driver’s licenses in the victims’ names but
bearing Miller’s photograph. In August 2020, Miller used a counterfeit driver’s license in
the name of a Massachusetts victim to arrange a Gulfstream private jet charter flight
from Florida to California, where she stayed at a luxury hotel under the same victim’s
name. In a separate instance, Miller used the identity of another victim to rent a luxury
apartment in Florida.

Miller maintained an active social media presence via her Instagram account, which had
more than 34,000 followers. There, Miller posted her extravagant use of the fraud
proceeds and stolen identities, publicizing her purchasing of luxury goods and renting
of luxury accommodations. Posts to this account included a post showing Miller at
luxury hotels in California where transactions were made using the bank account in one
of the victim’s names.

Acting U.S. Attorney Levy; HSI Acting SAC Krol; DOL-OIG SAC Mellone; Amaleka McCall-
Brathwaite, Special Agent in Charge of the Small Business Administration Office of
Inspector General (SBA-OIG), Eastern Region; and Abington (Mass.) Police Chief David
DelPapa made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by
Homeland Security Investigations in Miami and the Massachusetts State Police. Assistant
U.S. Attorneys William F. Abely, Chief of the Criminal Division and Benjamin A. Saltzman
of the Securities Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security’s Investigation’s Document and
Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF), a specialized field investigative group comprised of
personnel from various local, state and federal agencies with expertise in detecting,
deterring, and disrupting organizations and individuals involved in various types of
document, identity and benefit fraud schemes.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement
Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with
agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-
related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most
culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with
administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting
and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing
information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information
on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please
visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can
report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud
(NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form
at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Updated September 7, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD

IDENTITY THEFT


Component
USAO - Massachusetts


File and source

File

2023-09-11-Social-Media-Influencer-Sentenced-to-Five-Years-in-Prison-for-1-5-Million-COVID-19-Relief-Fraud-Sch.pdf

Size

172,851 bytes

SHA-256

49df50998276394b6468b1a389e7bfd9c7e4d1470a5dab315bfb83677f1ff264

Our copy

2023-09-11-Social-Media-Influencer-Sentenced-to-Five-Years-in-Prison-for-1-5-Million-COVID-19-Relief-Fraud-Sch.pdf

Original

www.oig.dol.gov