Former FL Mayor’s Daughter Gets 20 Months In Federal Prison For COVID-19 Fraud: DOJ

FORT LAUDERDALE — A South Florida political consultant and the daughter of former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison Monday for lying on a coronavirus relief loan application.

Based on her lies, Damara Holness, 29, received $300,000 in funds intended to help small businesses survive the pandemic, the Department of Justice said in a news release. She was charged in August, pleading guilty in November.

After she’s released from prison, Holness will have five years of supervised released. She must also pay back the COVID-19 relief funds she received, the DOJ said.

In 2020, she applied for a $300,000 forgivable, federally guaranteed Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan on behalf of her company, Holness Consulting, Inc.

In her application, she falsely claimed to employ 18 people and that her company spent an average of $120,000 on payroll each month, the DOJ said. She also supported this claim by submitting fraudulent payroll tax forms.

A bank in Georgia approved Holness Consulting’s PPP loan application based on the lies and wired $300,000 to the company’s bank account in Florida, according to the DOJ.

Once the money hit the bank account, Holness made checks from the company bank account out to others who agreed, for a fee, to help with the fraud. People receiving the checks endorsed and returned them to her. Then, Holness cashed the checks at the company’s bank, gave about $300 to the check endorser and kept the rest of the cash for herself – about $1,000 per check, the DOJ said.

Holness is a former president of the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus.

In addition to previously serving as the county’s mayor, her father, Dale Holness, recently represented District 9 in Broward County. He also lost the race for the U.S. House seat left vacant by the death of longtime Rep. Alsee Hastings last year.

In a post published on his campaign's Facebook page in August, he indicated that he doesn't have a close relationship with his daughter.

"She has made it clear to me on multiple occasions that she is an adult and as such, has conducted her own affairs. If she has done wrong, I hope she learns from this and uses this as a lesson to better conduct her life in the future," Dale wrote.

He said he has "always offered guidance and counsel" to Damara, encouraging her "to do what is right."

Dale said he has "no details as to how she conducted her business or what she did with her business entities."

He added that Damara "has had no access to my real estate business, office, or had my permission to use my address or to conduct business on behalf of the Holness family name nor myself" since 2018.