Danielle Miller: Influencer sentenced to five years in prison for $1.5M Covid relief fraud scheme to fund lavish lifestyle
MIAMI, FLORIDA: Danielle Miller, a 32-year-old Miami-based Instagram influencer, has been sentenced to five years in prison after carrying out a $1.5M Covid-19 relief fraud scheme to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Miller, the daughter of the former president of the New York State Bar Association, was sentenced on Thursday, September 7, after pleading guilty to three counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft in March, per Local 10.
The US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts reportedlt said the self-described con artist used the pandemic-related loans to fund her lifestyle, which included driving a Rolls-Royce, flying on private jets and living in a posh apartment.
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“Ms. Miller isn’t an influencer, she is a convicted felon,” acting US Attorney Joshua Levy said in a scathing statement, according to the NY Post.
Levy added, “In a quest for fleeting social media stardom, Ms. Miller relied on fraud to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets, luxury apartments, and other accouterments of wealth.”
“Today’s sentencing should 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,” he continued.
How Danielle Miller carried out Covid-19 relief fraud scheme
Miller, a Horace Mann School alumnus, allegedly stole federal loans from July 2020 to May 2021 by exploiting the personal information of more than 10 innocent people and fictitious company names, according to Levy's office.
In some instances, she would use forged driver’s licenses in the victim’s name but with her photo. In one case, she used a fraud scheme to travel from Florida to California on a Gulfstream private aircraft.
After arriving in California, she stayed in a five-star hotel using the identity she had stolen, authorities stated.
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In a separate instance, Miller used the identity of another victim to rent a luxury apartment in Florida, according to investigators.
In response to the accusations, she blatantly stated in February 2022, “Honestly, I more so consider myself a con artist than anything.”
However, her attorney claimed she was sorry for her actions.
“Ms. Miller has accepted responsibility for her actions and has expressed her remorse to the Court, the Government, and the victims affected,” Mitchell C Ellman told NBC News in a statement.
What are the previous charges against Danielle Miller?
Miller, who had more than 30,000 followers on Instagram, used to regularly post on social media, showing off her Chanel, Prada and Gucci merchandise. However, she has not posted since October 2022.
In one post from January 2022, she was seen wearing a short black dress with an ankle monitor on her left leg.
According to a notice of forfeiture, she now has been ordered to give up some of the expensive possessions she had earlier bragged about, including a Rolex watch, a Louis Vuitton bag, Rimowa suitcases and a Dior blouse and shoes.
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On top of the prison term, she has been ordered to pay restitution, determined at a later date, and have three years of supervised release.
As per reports, Miller has a long criminal history, which includes several fraud-related arrests in 2020, and 2021.
Previously, she faced separate investigations when she flaunted her black GPS ankle monitor on a “#housearrest” TikTok post that got over 2,000 likes.