Daughter of Ja-born Florida politician gets 20 months for fraud
Published:Thursday | February 3, 2022 | 12:08 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Damara Holness, former president of the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus and daughter of Jamaica-born Florida politician Dale Holness, was on Monday sentenced to 20 months in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
In November last year, Holness entered a guilty plea of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving some $300,000 from the Paycheck Protection Payment, a congressional programme designed to help small businesses weather the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was also sentenced to five years supervised release after her prison time, and is required to pay back the US$300,000.
She entered her guilty plea one day after the Democratic Party primary for the 20th congressional seat, which saw her father losing a tight race for the seat that takes in parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Federal prosecutors told a federal judge that the 29-year Holness pleaded guilty to stealing US$300,000 from a federal government programme designed to help small businesses that were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was charged with one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud in August. As part of her guilty plea, she admitted lying about the financial needs of her company, Plantation Consulting, to qualify for a federal Paycheck Protection Programme loan, guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, as part of a massive relief package approved by Congress.
She had faced up to 20-years in jail.
She was originally to be sentenced on January 20, nine days after a special election to fill the vacant congressional seat in the 20th congressional district that her father was running to fill. Instead, her sentencing took place on the last day of January.
Holness, speaking after his daughter’s arrest, said he had nothing to do with her business dealings and distanced himself from her troubles.
The single mother is among thousands of small businesses who turned to the federal programme for help during the pandemic.
The US$650-billion programme, part of the CARES Act, is credited with keeping many small businesses opened during the height of the pandemic. But it has also spawn dozens of fraud cases in South Florida and across the country.
While serving as the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus last year, Damara Holness applied for and received some $300,000 in loans for her small business.
The federal criminal complaint lodged against her said that she misrepresented the number of employees in her company and the amount paid out in salaries.
The complaint said that to justify her company’s request, Holness said on her loan application that her company employed 18 people and paid a monthly salary bill of some $120,000. The federal complaint said that she had zero staff and no payroll expenses.
Her loan application was reviewed and approved by a bank in Georgia.
The funds were wired to her company’s account and the federal complaint said that with receipt of the funds, she went about creating a false paper trail to make it appear that the funds were spent on legitimate, approved expenses.
The complaint further alleged that cheques were made payable to individuals who cashed the cheques and returned the funds to Holness. They were paid a few hundred dollars for performing this service.
Holness previously entered a not guilty plea, but changed her plea to guilty.