A Miami real estate agent has been sentenced to prison for misappropriating COVID-19 relief funds provided by the government.
Daniela Rendon, the owner of Rendon PA and Rendon Holdings, obtained $381,000 through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) by falsifying her revenue, number of employees, and payroll. She then used the funds to purchase a luxury car, rent an upscale apartment, and undergo cosmetic procedures.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, Rendon enrolled her friends, family members, and herself as employees of Rendon PA to disperse the checks. She also submitted fabricated reports to lenders in New Jersey and Idaho, using a payroll processor in New Jersey to facilitate the COVID relief loans through her corporate bank account. The checks were then issued to her acquaintances.
The fraudulent funds were used by Rendon to lease a 2021 Bentley Bentayga, rent a luxury Biscayne Bay apartment, pay for cosmetic procedures, and refinish her designer shoes. This scam reportedly took place between April 2020 and April 2022.
Rendon, a self-described "Ultra Luxury" real estate agent on LinkedIn, was charged with seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of aggravated identity theft. She faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
However, Rendon pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in April 2023, and the prosecutors dropped all other charges. She has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison, the shortest sentence recommended by the sentencing guidelines. Rendon will also be under supervised release and is required to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution.
In a statement to the court, Rendon admitted that her actions were motivated by greed. She expressed regret for her crimes, acknowledging that she once believed the victims were merely faceless entities of the U.S. Government. Rendon's fraudulent activities were part of a larger problem, as a report by the Office of Inspector General of the Small Business Administration revealed that the federal government lost over $200 billion in COVID-19 relief funds to potential fraud, waste, and abuse.
The report estimated that approximately 17% of the total COVID relief funds, valued at $1.2 trillion, were stolen through various fraudulent schemes. This highlights the need for increased oversight and stricter regulations to prevent such misuse of funds in the future.
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