Another person linked to former Broward Mayor Holness charged with COVID relief fraud
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COVID-19 loan fraud in South Florida
South Florida, long known as the nation’s capital of fraud schemes, has incurred more than 140 PPP criminal cases over the past three years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Here are a few.
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A Royal Palm Beach man who campaign finance records say did political consulting work for former Broward mayor and U.S. congressional candidate Dale Holness has been accused of committing a $212,500 COVID-19 relief fraud.
The charging documents in federal court say Omar Smith, 42, did this in 2020, using his company A Star For I.
That’s right in the middle of a two-year period during which an itemized campaign treasurer’s report says Holness’ campaigns paid Smith $61,800, most of it through A Star For I for “consulting.”
Smith is charged in Fort Lauderdale federal court with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud.
Smith isn’t the first person Holness knows who is charged with COVID-19 PPP relief fraud. Holness’ daughter, Damara Holness, is scheduled to wake up each morning until Sept. 24, 2023, in the federal prison in Marianna after pleading guilty to a $300,000 COVID relief funds fraud.
READ MORE: Daughter of former Broward mayor gets prison time for ripping off COVID-19 program
In a text message to the Miami Herald, Holness said, “Omar was a consultant for my previous county commission campaigns, as he was for many other candidates and other elected officials who ran for office.”
A Star For I and its COVID-19 PPP loan
The alleged scheme, as described in the charging documents, varies little from other COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan schemes: Someone applies for a loan claiming that a company has many more employees and a much larger monthly payroll than it actually has.
Prosecutors say Smith and an unnamed co-conspirator applied for a PPP loan of $212,500, claiming A Star For I had 30 employees and an average payroll of $85,000 a month. (That works out to the average employee making $2,833.33 per month or $34,000 per year.)
And, the charging documents say, the co-conspirator submitted an IRS form that fraudulently stated A Star For I paid $255,000 in wages over the first three months of 2019.
A Star For I got the $212,500 loan and, the charging documents said, Smith “transferred” $42,500 to his co-conspirator for the help.
From July 2020 to October 2020, the charging documents say, Smith “began issuing checks to persons in order to make it appear as if A Star For I had full-time employees and was complying with the conditions of the PPP loan.
“The persons receiving the checks did little, if any, work for A Star For I.”
A Star For I and Broward politics
State records say Smith registered A Star For I with the state in 2012, using the Royal Palm Beach residential address 367 Berenger Walk, the same address that would be used until the company was dissolved in September 2021.
A report of Holness’ campaign treasurer’s itemized expenditures posted on voterfocus.com shows payments to four entities at “367 Berenger Walk Dr.”: Smith personally; A Star For I; Flyer Smith; and, in what looks like a misprint, “USPS” ($4,500 for “consulting.” Every other “USPS” appearance is linked to a post office address for postage).
From 2019 through 2021, Holness’ campaign made a $4,400 “donation” to A Star For I; paid $8,700 for printing; and $37,900 for “consulting.” The campaign paid Flyer Smith $4,000 for printing and $1,850 for “tech services.” Smith was paid $850 as an IT consultant or IT specialist.
In documents filed with the state, Miramar City Commissioner Alexandra Davis’ campaign said it paid A Star For I $2,500 and $2,393 in February and March 2019, respectively, for “IT Services.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 6:27 PM.
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