Former Broward Mayor's Daughter Charged With Campaign Funding Fraud

Update published 1/11/2024: Richelle Holness was arraigned in the Southern District of Florida on counts of fraud in connection with emergency benefits and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Holness entered an initial plea of not guilty. She was released on a $100,000 bond, with the court prohibiting her from engaging in political campaign work.

The original story follows below.

A daughter of former Broward County mayor and congressional candidate Dale Holness was charged this week in Florida federal court for allegedly running a scheme to pocket campaign funds while working as a treasurer for her father's 2020 county commission run.

Prosecutors claim Richelle Holness diverted funds from her father's campaign account for personal expenditures, including alcohol, airline tickets, fast food, and clothing from August 2019 through October 2020. She is facing two felony counts — one related to the campaign funding allegations and another stemming from alleged pandemic relief fraud.

Holness is the second daughter of the former mayor to be charged with fraud in the Southern District of Florida. In a separate case, Damara Holness pleaded guilty in 2021 to government loan fraud.

According to the charging document obtained by New Times, Richelle Holness issued checks from the campaign account and filed reports falsely stating that the money was used for consulting, printing, and other services related to the campaign.

Holness allegedly directed three co-conspirators who received the checks to return all or almost all of the funds to her by either Cash App, another check, or cashier's check. In at least one instance, prosecutors say, she directed a co-conspirator to use the diverted campaign money to pay the rent for her father's real estate business.

In August 2019, prosecutors claim, Holness issued a $5,000 check from the campaign account and instructed a co-conspirator to cash it and return the money. A day later, she allegedly provided another $1,000 to the co-conspirator and again had the money siphoned back to her. The combined $6,000 sum was listed as a "consulting" expense on Holness's campaign treasurer report. 

In November 2019, Holness issued a $4,000 check from the account and directed the recipient to endorse it before Holness cashed it and kept the proceeds, prosecutors allege. Her campaign report falsely listed the expenditure as "data processing services," according to the charging document.

Prosecutors claim multiple campaign treasurer reports filed by Holness with the Broward County Supervisor of Elections from September 2019 through November 2020 falsely indicated that the checks were used for election-related purposes.

Additionally, the charging document alleges Holness filled out a fraudulent application for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provided benefits to people who lost work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to prosecutors, she received a voucher or payment unlawfully through the Department of Labor.

Holness's father, Dale, was a Broward County commissioner for over a decade, beginning in 2010. In the election run mentioned in the court documents, he won his commission seat uncontested. He served as county mayor from 2019 to 2020 and later launched a failed bid for the District 20 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Damara Holness, another daughter of the former mayor, pleaded guilty in November 2021 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was later sentenced to a 20-month prison term for fraudulently obtaining $300,000 in coronavirus relief funds under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Damara, the onetime president of the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus, lied on her PPP application, falsely stating that her consulting company had a large staff and spent $120,000 monthly on payroll.

According to a 2020 Caribbean National Weekly profile, Dale Holness opened his real estate business, All Broward Realty, in the late 1980s and made a living as a real estate agent apart from his political career. Richelle managed the business, the outlet reported.