COVID fraud: Woman sentenced for using nearly $500k in business aid for luxury purchases
SEATTLE - A Seattle woman has been sentenced for defrauding a COVID assistance program and using that money that was meant for company payroll and instead went on luxury shopping sprees, bought collectible cars, and failed BitCoin investment.
A judge determined that 62-year-old Danni Walker must spend 52 consecutive weekends confined at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.
According to investigators, Walker used false information to apply for and obtain $473,082 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans through the Small Business Administration (SBA). Walker submitted the applications on behalf of three different companies, only one of which was in operation, and none of which had the employees she claimed in her applications, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Investigators said she used the money to buy a Jaguar coup and spent $34,000 on a luxury vacation to New York, which included a Louis Vuitton shopping spree. She also gave large cash gifts to family and friends and tried but failed to invest in cryptocurrency, according to investigators.
Walker then flaunted the vacations and luxury purchases on social media.
Prosecutors pushed for a prison sentence of just under two years, saying Walker's theft of tax dollars meant others did not get the financial support they needed.
"This was a calculated and sophisticated offense…. Over a period of approximately 11 months, through six fraudulent PPP loan applications, Walker stole close to a half million dollars in pandemic relief funds. These funds could and should have been provided to businesses that actually qualified for them, so those business could pay their employees and other approved business offenses – i.e., to stay afloat during a historic crisis," Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Jensen wrote in her sentencing memo.