Florida TD Bank manager masterminded $30 million COVID loan fraud, kickback scheme
Daniel Hernandez held a key position at TD Bank, overseeing 80 employees at 27 branches in MiamiDade County.
But the regional manager’s job also gave him the opportunity to fleece a massive U.S. government loan program meant to help struggling businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic — by exploiting his bank from the inside, federal authorities say.
In less than a year, authorities say, Hernandez lined his pockets with kickback-like “commissions” as he collaborated with TD Bank customers, a former bank employee and other associates to submit falsified paperwork for more than 80 loans worth $30 million under the Paycheck Protection Program — all guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. Hernandez also directed others to apply for another $7 million in pandemic benefits from the Small Business Administration under its Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
In total, Hernandez and his illicit network received more than $17 million in fraudulent loans approved by TD Bank and one of his previous employers, Bank of America, as well as by the SBA itself — in one of the most brazen pandemic relief cases involving two major U.S. banks, authorities say.
The 50-year-old Hernandez,
who was fired from his TD Bank job before his arrest in August, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy charge in December and now faces up to 10 years in prison at his sentencing in March. He is among dozens of pandemic hustlers in South Florida and thousands nationwide who have been convicted of fraud since Congress approved the $813 billion loan programs just after