‘No respect for the law.’ Lexington landlord gets prison sentence over fraudulent loans
A Lexington landlord convicted of submitting false loan applications has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Vonnie J. McDaniels, 35, also was ordered to pay a total of $262,017 in restitution to the federal Small Business Administration, a bank in New Jersey and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.
McDaniels created false tax documents and “doctored” leases and Social Security letters in applying for financial assistance available under programs designed to help small businesses and renters with the economic downturn that happened during the the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the court record.
He also set up email addresses that he used to pretend he was two tenants in applying for rental assistance.
But when his tenants asked him if they had qualified for help with their rent, McDaniels said they hadn’t, denying them assistance while maximizing his own payments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany A. Dunn-Pirio said in a sentencing memorandum.
“Mr. McDaniels’s behavior demonstrates that he has no respect for the law,” the prosecutor said.
McDaniels was convicted of wire fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and committing a crime while under court supervision on an earlier bank fraud conviction.
McDaniels used money from the loans to make payments on credit cards, loans and a mortgage and buy a property in South Carolina, federal authorities said in a news release.
Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced McDaniels on Jan. 24.
