Daniela Rendon Miami realtor sentenced to 3.5 years jail after fraudulently obtained COVID relief funds was spent on lavish life shared on social media.
A Miami real estate agent who went through $380,000 in fraudulently obtained COVID relief loans has been sentenced to 3.5 years jail.
Daniela Rendon, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in April 2023 after prosecutors dropped six additional counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated identity theft following her February arrest.
Rendon, a Colombian immigrant used the ill gotten PPP funds on leasing a Bentley (at $3K a month), renting a luxury apartment along with having cosmetic procedures – all of which the realtor openly shared on her social media accounts.
Faced up to 20 years jail
Rendon, a mother of three, admitted her actions were ‘motivated by insatiable greed.’
She told the a federal court in Miami on Thursday: ‘Looking back, it becomes all too tempting to utter the words ‘everybody was doing it’ as a feeble attempt to rationalize my actions.
‘I regretfully confess that I once foolishly believed that the victims of my crimes were merely the faceless entities of the U.S. Government.’
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore appreciated her contrition and the 30-page thesis she submitted, which detailed her remorse, USA Today reported.
He sentenced her to the minimum prison time, sparing her an additional year behind bars.
Along with jail time, followed by three years of probation, Rendon was also ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Bailyn recommended a three and a half year sentence while her defense attorney, Robert Mandell, asked for a lenient term of five years’ probation.
She could have faced 20 years in prison for wire fraud.
Falsely stated making $92M when she was only making $2K bi-weekly checks
As head of Rendon PA, Rendon falsely stated that the company generated nearly $92 million in revenue between early 2019 and 2020 as a developer. At the time, she was really a sales associate earning biweekly checks of $2,000 for the Trump Group’s A3 Development, which recently developed Estates at Acqualina, according to the filing, which Rendon signed, the Real Deal reported.
‘It’s not as easy to see that you’re really stealing from your neighbors, your friends and other citizens,’ said Moore, according to The Miami Herald.
‘It’s their money that goes to the Treasury that makes it possible to have these kinds of programs.’
In the early months of the pandemic, federal funds were poured into businesses to keep them afloat and enable them to pay their essential overheads.
The Small Business Administration rolled out at several pandemic relief programs, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
Government agencies are now attempting to retrace misspent funds, and prosecute those responsible.
A watchdog report released in June 2023 by the Office of the Inspector General for the SBA found 17 percent of the $1.2 trillion were stolen through fraud schemes.
The estimated fraud breakdown is $136 billion from EIDL programs and $64 billion through PPP loans.
‘The pandemic presented a whole-of-government challenge,’ wrote Hannibal ‘Mike’ Ware, the inspector general, in the report.
‘Fraudsters found vulnerabilities and coordinated schemes to bypass controls and gain easy access to funds meant for eligible small businesses and entrepreneurs adversely affected by the economic crisis.’
Rendon was able to get her hands on the money earmarked for struggling businesses by falsifying business data to secure the PPP funds.
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Fake lavish life shared on social media
Rendon applied for her business loans through the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program for $371,000 and the Economic Injury Disaster Relief program for $10,000.
The Colombian-born realtor fabricated information including revenue, payroll, costs, tax information, and employee count.
The falsified data was submitted to lenders in New Jersey and Idaho, with the loans paid directly to her through her corporate bank account.
Rendon, who refers to herself as an ‘Ultra Luxury’ real estate agent on LinkedIn, then transferred the payments to herself and her inner circle of friends.
She arranged for a payroll processor in New Jersey to process the loans and cut checks that were then issued to family and friends.
Rendon did not shy away from the amount of wealth she had accumulated, regularly flaunting herself on her social media accounts and her 33,000 followers.
Among other things, the money was used to lease a 2021 Bentley Bentayga, which is sold for around $181,000, which she showed off on her Instagram account and which she leased or $3,000 a month.
The money was also used to rent a luxury apartment in Biscayne Bay, undergo cosmetic procedures and to fix a pair of her designer shoes.
