Miami influencer Danielle Miller gets 5-year federal prison sentence

One Miami influencer has gone from wearing Gucci to prison garb. 

Danielle Miller, 32, was sentenced to five years in federal prison Thursday after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to carrying out a $1.5 million COVID-19 relief fraud scheme, according to prosecutors.

The self-described con artist flaunted her wealth that included driving in a Rolls-Royce, hopping on private jets and living in a high-end apartment fueled by taking more than $1 million in pandemic-related loans meant for struggling Americans, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said.

“Ms. Miller isn’t an influencer, she is a convicted felon,” Acting Us Attorney Joshua Levy said in a scathing statement. “In a quest for fleeting social media stardom, Ms. Miller relied on fraud to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets, luxury apartments and other accoutrements of wealth.

“Today’s sentencing should make it crystal clear that curating a high-society social media presence on the backs of hardworking taxpayers is a path to prison, not fleeting fame.”

Miller, a Horace Mann School graduate, swiped loans handed out by the federal government from July 2020 through May 2021 by using personal information of more than 10 innocent people and fake business names, Levy’s office said.

She would use forged driver’s licenses in the victim’s names but with her photo.

In one instance she deployed such a scheme to take a trip on a Gulfstream private jet from Florida to California. Once there, she stayed in a five star hotel using the identity she had stolen, feds said.

When discussing the allegations against her in a Feb. 2022 New York Magazine piece, she shamelessly admitted, “Honestly, I more so consider myself a con artist than anything.”

Her attorney claims she’s now sorry for her actions. 

“Ms. Miller has accepted responsibility for her actions and has expressed her remorse to the Court, the Government and the victims affected,” Mitchell C. Ellman told NBC News in a statement. 

She was ordered to give up some of the luxury items she once boasted about, including a Rolex watch, Insider reported last month, citing a notice of forfeiture.

Other items included a Louis Vuitton bag, Rimowa suitcases and a Dior blouse and shoes. 

Miller, who had more than 30,000 followers on Instagram, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft in March.

On top of prison term, she’ll be forced to pay restitution determined at a later date and have three years of supervised release.

She used to regularly posted on Instagram, showing off her Chanel, Prada and Gucci looks, though she hasn’t posted since October 2022. In one post from January of that year, she’s seen wearing a short black dress with an ankle monitor on her left leg. 

She was also sentenced to five years in state prison in Florida in a separate fraud case last year.