The 28-year-old daughter of a former Broward County mayor has been charged with falsifying a Paycheck Protection Program loan application and receiving $300,000 in Covid-19 assistance funds unlawfully.
Damara Holness, a political strategist from Fort Lauderdale, is accused of conspiring to conduct wire fraud.
If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
A former president of the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus, Damara Holness now works as a political consultant.
She is the daughter of Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, a candidate for Congress in the current election cycle.
Damara Holness filed for a $300,000 PPP loan in June 2020 on behalf of her Plantation-based firm, Holness Consulting, according to federal prosecutors.
Her firm, according to the indictment, employed 18 employees and spent an average of $120,000 a month on payroll, according to her claims in both the online loan application and the allegedly false payroll tax forms.
The problem is that According to court documents, Holness Consulting had no workers and no payroll expenditures.
According to court papers, Holness Consulting’s PPP loan application was granted by a Georgia bank, and the business was immediately transferred $300,000 in July 2020.
Damara Holness reportedly established a phony paper trail after obtaining the PPP loan to make it look as if her firm had workers and was spending the PPP money on legitimate costs.
Damara Holness, according to the indictment, sent checks from her company’s bank account to others who engaged in the scam.
The co-conspirators are said to endorse the cheques and return them to Damara Holness.
The business owner reportedly cashed the checks at her company’s bank, gave a part of the money to the co-conspirators, and kept roughly $1,000 each check for herself.
The suspected co-conspirators in the plan have not been charged, according to investigators.
Damara Holness appeared in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick M. Hunt in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday.
She was freed from jail after posting a $100,000 personal surety bail.
This case was investigated by the FBI Miami.
Since the tri-county region emerged as a center for Covid-19 financial fraud schemes, the Southern District of Florida has continued to crack down on CARES Act-related fraud. To combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud, the Attorney General formed the Covid-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May.
