Feds: Durham attorney sentenced to prison for falsely obtaining COVID relief funds, creating fake Social Security numbers

A Durham attorney was sentenced to more than five years in prison on Wednesday for charges related to filing false tax returns, creating false Social Security numbers and using COVID-19 relief money to pay for extravagant properties, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Tiffany Dawn Russell pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges connected to defrauding more than $2.5 million from at least 12 financial institutions and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“This defendant spent years defrauding banks and the federal government, and now she’ll be spending years behind bars,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley in a statement.

Federal leaders said Russell falsely obtained more than $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds intended to help small businesses, Easley said.

Russell, working with others, applied for loans and credit cards using fake Social Security numbers, the DOJ alleges. She used this false identity to purchase a BMW and obtain a credit card to pay for butt augmentation surgery, according to the federal government.

On top of using fake identities, she engaged in "credit washing to remove legitimate debt accounts from her credit history by falsely claiming she was the victim of identity theft and had not opened those accounts," according to a release from the DOJ.

Russell is also accused of using fabricated documents to apply for mortgages to purchase three properties, including an oceanfront residence in Nags Head. The federal government accused Russell of using falsely obtained money from the CARES Act to pay for her property in Nags Head and purchase five other properties in North Carolina, Maryland and Alabama.

Elliot Abrams, Russell's lawyer, said that she overcame "tremendous hardship and childhood trauma to do well in grade school and become the first person in her family to go to college."

Russell admitted that she did wrong and accepted responsibility for her offenses, Abrams said, and she "blames no one other than herself."

In addition to prison time, Russell was ordered to pay $2 million in fraud proceeds to the federal government.