Damara Holness, daughter of former Broward Mayor Dale Holness, defrauded Paycheck Protection Program out of $300K
The daughter of a former South Florida mayor who recently ran for Congress has been sentenced to prison for lying to obtain $300,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.
Damara Holness – a political consultant and former president of the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus – was ordered to report to federal prison by noon on April 25 to serve a 20-month sentence for lying on an application to the Paycheck Protection Program and fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
She is the daughter of former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness. Damara Holness pleaded guilty in November, a day after a Democratic primary for a U.S. House seat that her father lost by five votes.
Prosecutors said Damara Holness spent months creating a paper trail after receiving the money. Court documents showed she paid 22 people, including a school bus driver and a security guard, about $1,300 every two weeks. Once they cashed the checks, the “employees” kept $300 and returned the rest to her.