Daniela Rendon has been sentenced to 3.5 years.Photo:Daniela Rendon/Instagram
Daniela Rendon/Instagram
A Miami real estate broker who misused $381,000 inCOVID-19relief funds to fund a luxury lifestyle is facing a sentence of 3.5 years.
Daniela Rendon, 31, was indicted in February on charges of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to anews releasefrom the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida.
Rendon pleaded guilty in April to one charge of wire fraud, which holds a maximum penalty of 20 years, according to theMiami Herald.
During her sentencing in Miami Federal court on Thursday, per the outlet, Rendon claimed she had unlawfully applied for the Covid-19 relief funds because she believed “everybody was doing it” at the time.”
A photo of Daniella Rendon while on what appears to be a yacht on Instagram.Daniela Rendon/Instagram
The real estate broker also said that after she got caught, she realized that those who suffered from her actions were not the “faceless entities of the U.S. government” but rather the “countless individuals and businesses” who needed aid during an “unparalleled period of economic distress,” theMiami Heraldreported.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Bailyn recommended a 3.5-year sentence for Rendon, while Robert Mandell, her defense attorney, asked for 5 years probation.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore sided with Bailyn in sentencing — in part due to her confession, as well as a 30-page apology sent into the court, according to theMiami Herald.
Daniela Rendon shown flying in a private airplane as seen on her Instagram.Daniela Rendon/Instagram
“It’s not as easy to see that you’re really stealing from your neighbors, your friends and other citizens,” Moore said in court, per the outlet. “It’s [the victims’] money that goes to the Treasury that makes it possible to have these kinds of programs.”
In addition to the prison sentence, Rendon was ordered to pay back $198,990 to the U.S. government.
Daniela Rendon posing at a party on her as seen on her Instagram.Daniela Rendon/Instagram
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She then used the money to buy luxury items like a 2021 Bentley Bentayga, pay her rent on her luxury Biscayne Bay apartment and pay for cosmetic dermatology procedures, among other things.
Her indictment was made after the Attorney General launched a COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May, 2021, “in order to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida’s news release.
The Office of the Inspector General for the Small Business Administrationreported in Junethat at least 17% of the $1.2 trillion distributed out in PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) were obtained through fraudulent means.
source: people.com
