BOSTON, Massachusetts – A social media influencer and self-proclaimed con artist pleaded guilty on Monday to fraudulently obtaining more than US$1 million (S$1.3 million) in Covid-19 pandemic-related loans from the United States government which she used to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that she flaunted on Instagram.
Danielle Miller, whose scams in this and other cases were chronicled in a New York Magazine profile in 2022, appeared before a federal judge in Boston by video from a jail cell to plead guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.
As a part of a plea deal with prosecutors, the 33-year-old agreed to forfeit US$1.3 million and serve six years in prison, 16 months of which may overlap with a five-year sentence she received last October in a separate Florida bank fraud case. Her sentencing was set for June 27.
Prosecutors said Miller used the identities of more than 10 people to fraudulently set up bank accounts and obtain more than US$1 million in pandemic-related loans intended for small businesses.
She used the money for travel and luxury purchases such as a Rolex watch, a Louis Vuitton bag and Dior shoes, and posted photos on Instagram of herself at luxury hotels in California where she used a bank account in the name of one of her victims.
Originally from New York, Miller is the daughter of a former New York State Bar Association president and a graduate of the prestigious Horace Mann School.
She was already facing charges in the separate Florida state court fraud case when she was arrested in May 2021 at a luxury apartment in Miami, where she had moved during the pandemic.
“Honestly, I more so consider myself a con artist than anything,” Miller was quoted as saying in the New York Magazine article.
The case is an example of fraud that became rampant as the federal government rushed to distribute more than US$5 trillion in relief funds to help people, businesses and local governments affected by the pandemic.
More than 1,000 people have been convicted of defrauding Covid-19 relief programmes, the US Government Accountability Office said in February.
The White House last week said President Joe Biden plans to ask Congress to provide US$1.6 billion in new funding to crack down on fraud tied to the programmes. REUTERS
