0
0
By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) – A social media influencer and self-proclaimed con artist pleaded guilty on Monday to fraudulently obtaining more than $1 million in COVID-19 pandemic-related loans from the U.S. government that 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 last year, appeared before a federal judge in Boston by video from a jail cell to plead guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identify theft charges.
As a part of a plea deal with prosecutors, the 33-year-old agreed to forfeit $1.3 million and serve six years in prison, 16 months of which may overlap with a five-year sentence she received in 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 $1 million in pandemic-related loans intended for small businesses. She used the money for travel and luxury purchases such as a Rolex, 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 $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 programs, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said last month. The White House last week said President Joe Biden plans to ask Congress to provide $1.6 billion in new funding to crack down on fraud tied to the programs.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Will Dunham and Alexia Garamfalvi)
Netflix and South Korean public broadcaster MBC have defeated a legal challenge against their religious cult documentary exposé “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal.” The eight-part Netflix original program delves into the real stories of four self-proclaimed Korean prophets, including Jeong Myeong-seok, leader of the Christian Gospel Mission. Jesus Morning Star (JMS), as the group is also known, sought an injunction to halt the docuseries from airing, claiming that it was a work of fiction that infringed upon the presumption of innocence and religious freedom.
Two people have been arrested after a man was looking to exchange money for sex, according to police.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday again declined to settle a split among appeals courts over whether federal wage law allows workers to bring nationwide class action-style lawsuits, turning away a case involving FedEx Corp. The justices denied a petition by FedEx security specialist Christa Fischer for review of a July ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said because her overtime pay lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania, only workers from that state could join. Companies and business groups have been pushing courts to limit nationwide wage-and-hour lawsuits, citing a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that said people who lived outside California could not join a product liability case filed in state court against Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
The incident reportedly occurred inside a subway train en route to Jukjeon Station in Yongin, a city in Gyeonggi Province, on the Suin Bundang Line on Saturday. The police are looking to charge the woman with “special violence” inflicted on another, which is similar to an aggravated assault charge that carries a jail sentence of one to 10 years. Although the woman was carrying a knife on board the subway train, a violation of South Korea’s Article 42 of the Railroad Safety Act, reports said authorities did not request charges for the transgression.
A job at the $1 billion startup Oyster was supposed to offer job security and freedom from a cycle of Big Tech contractor gigs. Then he got laid off.
The new state agency would provide new services to descendants of African American slaves as well as have oversight power.
The Cardinals have made it known that receiver DeAndre Hopkins could be available for a potential trade as the club begins a new era with G.M. Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon. Gannon admitted the uncertainty last week at the NFL Scouting Combine, saying he was “not sure” whether the Pro Bowler would be [more]
His ticket was the first winner of the $4,000,000 Platinum Jackpot Massachusetts State Lottery game.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the presidential administration is monitoring Silvergate Bank's situation, and said Congress must act.
Tana Mongeau may have ended her relationships with Bella Thorne and Mod Sun nearly four years ago, but that hasn't stopped fans from asking what went wrong.
The FBI is searching for a Florida woman who was supposed to stand trial Monday on charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack as well as another riot defendant who has also gone missing, officials said. A federal judge in Washington issued bench warrants for the arrest of Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III last week after the court was notified that they had tampered with or removed the ankle monitors that track their location, said Joe Boland, a supervisory special agent with the FBI's Lakeland, Florida office. Boland said the FBI has recovered one of the defendants' ankle monitors after they removed it, but declined to say whether it was Pollock's or Hutchinson's. As of Monday afternoon, the FBI had not located either of them, he said.
A Texas lawmaker filed a bill on Monday that would set a referendum for voters to decide whether or not the state should explore the possibility of seceding from the United States. If the measure — known as the “TEXIT Referendum Act” — passes, a referendum on whether or not Texas “should reassert its status…
A Ukrainian prisoner of war gunned down in cold blood after saying “glory to Ukraine” in front of his Russian captors has been hailed as a martyr.
During this time, I decided not to make payments and worked really hard on saving money. Should I be investing and trying to beat the interest rates on the loans? The plan has always been to pay the student loans off and keep the rest as the emergency fund, but I guess I’m just looking for confirmation that this is the most sound plan and that I’m not missing something.
A TikTok influencer hysterically recounts getting pulled over for running a stop sign. To make matters worse? She's also "the ugliest crier there could possibly be." The post This TikTok influencer says she’s ‘the ugliest crier there could possibly be’ after getting pulled over for running a stop sign appeared first on In The Know.
A Minnesota state court has ruled that USA Powerlifting must permit transgender athletes to compete.
Russell Brand savaged MSNBC analyst John Heilemann on a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher for playing the same game as the Fox News.
The U.S. ambassador to Mexico said a Mexican national was killed during the kidnapping of a group of Americans over the weekend. Local officials said they were assaulted and abducted after crossing the border into the northern part of the country on Friday. Tracy Walder, a former CIA officer and FBI special agent, joined CBS News to discuss.
Auto loan delinquencies are up as inflation and the end of COVID-19 financial assistance programs eat away at consumer spending power.
China is the top buyer of Russian fossil fuels since the invasion, followed by Germany and Turkey
source
