After utilizing a faux driver’s license to get a personal jet from Florida to California and utilizing COVID pandemic-related relief loans to stay a lifetime of luxurious, a social media influencer has been sentenced to 5 years in prison.Danielle Miller, 32, pleaded responsible to 3 counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated id theft. She was arrested on a legal criticism in May 2021 and indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2021.Acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy’s workplace stated Miller used data from at the least 10 folks in Massachusetts and pretend enterprise names to use to get Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds between July 2020 to May 2021.Read extra: Influencer to forfeit Louis Vuitton bag, cash after misusing COVID relief fundsShe obtained greater than $1 million in authorities advantages, officers stated.Part of how she did this, officers stated, was by having counterfeit driver’s licenses in the victims’ names however with Miller’s {photograph}, together with the individual’s driver’s licenses she used to get the personal jet.“In August 2020, Miller used a counterfeit driver’s license in the title of a Massachusetts sufferer to rearrange a (*5*) personal jet constitution flight from Florida to California, the place she stayed at a luxurious resort beneath the identical sufferer’s title,” Levy’s workplace stated. “In a separate occasion, Miller used the id of one other sufferer to hire a luxurious house in Florida.”She additionally saved monitor of her “extravagant use of the fraud proceeds and stolen identities” by her social media accounts. On Instagram, Miller had greater than 34,000 followers. One of her posts, officers stated, confirmed her at luxurious resorts in California “the place transactions have been made utilizing the checking account in one of many sufferer’s names.”Read extra: Police accused of relationship with minor, assault amongst 3 suspended in Mass.She had additionally began a store referred to as “I’m not an influencer,” which she hyperlinks to on Instagram. It offered sweatshirts and telephone instances.Levy agrees, she’s not an influencer.“Ms. Miller isn’t an influencer, she is a convicted felon. She stole the identities of harmless folks to steal over $1.2 million in pandemic-relief loans that ought to have gone to folks in want. In a quest for fleeting social media stardom, Ms. Miller relied on fraud to fund a lavish way of life of personal jets, luxurious flats different accoutrements of wealth,” he stated. “Today’s sentencing ought to 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.”Michael J. Krol, particular agent in cost of Homeland Security Investigations in New England, referred to as Miller “heartless.”“While different Americans fearful about learn how to maintain meals on the desk, Miller spent her ill-gotten features on resorts and luxurious items, heartlessly flaunting this fraudulent way of life on social media,” he stated.But Miller’s scams began lengthy earlier than the pandemic.Read extra: Mass. postal employee stole money from clients used to purchase stamps, officers sayMiller admitted to mendacity quite a bit as a toddler however in 2013 she was overspending her dad and mom’ cash in Los Angeles, in accordance with New York Magazine — spending $20,000 in only one month. The journal reported her dad and mom minimize her off, together with returning her brand-new convertible SLK350 Mercedes.In 2016, she was utilizing stolen credit-card data to pay for spa journeys on the Upper West Side in New York, the information outlet reported. She was later charged with id theft and grand larceny for almost $5,000 in providers. She additionally reportedly stole about $200,000 from Mackinzie Dae, a mannequin and Marine veteran working in influencer advertising, and one other buddy.After lacking a courtroom date associated to the stolen bank cards, she was sentenced to a 12 months minus time served in Rikers, assembly con artist Anna Delvey and scammer Ciera Blas.Once she received out, COVID-19 was simply the subsequent wave for scammers.“COVID was an enormous wave,” she advised New York Magazine, including she realized learn how to do it on-line. But, it’s additionally one thing she’s particularly good at, she stated.“I’m so sought after it’s madness,” the journal reported. “My Instagram account from me being locked up has 1000’s, 1000’s of DMs asking me what my Telegram title is to work with me. Thousands.”Read extra: Retired physician arrested on drug, gun prices on yacht off Nantucket, report saysMiller additionally has to forfeit a few of her luxurious gadgets.On Aug. 11, the federal government listed numerous luxurious gadgets, together with Rimowa suitcases, a Louis Vuitton bag, a Rolex Wristwatch, Dior sneakers and a Dior shirt as being forfeited by Miller. It additionally listed almost $500,000 from a TD Bank account, $104,535.79 from one other checking account, $4,441 taken from a residence in Florida and greater than $27,000 in cash orders.The gadgets will probably be forfeited to the federal government except an individual, apart from Miller, petitions to assert them.
https://www.masslive.com/information/2023/09/social-media-influencer-gets-5-years-in-prison-after-misusing-covid-relief-funds.html
