Daughter of prominent J’can politician in Florida pleads guilty to COVID fraud

Damara Holness, the daughter of prominent Jamaica-born Florida politician Dale Holness, has pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge involving COVID-19 relief funds.

Federal prosecutors yesterday told a federal judge that the 28-year-old 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.

Her guilty plea came one day after the Democratic party primary for the 20th congressional seat, which saw her father locked in a tight race for the seat that takes in parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Dale Holness is currently the Broward County Commissioner.

As part of her guilty plea, Ms Holness admitted to 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 faces up to 20 years in prison but is not expected to receive the maximum sentence.

She will 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 is running to fill.

Mr. Holness, speaking after her 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 money, she went about creating a false paper trail to make it appear that the funds were spent on legitimate approved expenses.

The complaint further said that cheques were made payable to individuals who cashed them and returned the funds to Ms Holness.

They were paid a few hundred dollars for performing this service.

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