Sister of Miami Heat Legend Udonis Haslem Pleads Guilty to Pandemic Relief Fraud

Update published 3/12/2024: Sheana Haslem has pleaded guilty to wire fraud for submitting fabricated information on applications for COVID-19 relief funds.

Her sentencing is set for May 28 in the Southern District of Florida.

The original story follows below.

The list of South Florida police department employees who allegedly scammed the federal government's pandemic relief programs has been growing steadily over the past two years. From Miami to Coral Springs, current and former law enforcement workers have been charged with fraudulently milking COVID-19-related loans — and the crackdown continues.

This time around, the accused also happens to be the sister of Miami Heat legend and retired power forward Udonis Haslem.

Federal prosecutors say Sheana Haslem, a staffing specialist for the Miami Police Department, submitted fraudulent applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program in 2020 and 2021. Haslem received almost $31,000 from the relief programs through the scheme, according to the charging document.

With the assistance of an "unnamed individual," prosecutors allege, Haslem sent a fraudulent EIDL application claiming to be an independent contractor and owner of a lucrative hair-and-nail salon business. In her application, she made bogus claims that the business had 15 employees and gross revenue of nearly $90,000 from January 31, 2019, to January 31, 2020, the feds say.

Following her request for EIDL funds, Sheana Haslem allegedly submitted a scam application for a PPP loan for a security officer business.

Prosecutors say she falsely represented that her average monthly payroll for the business was $8,333 and submitted an Internal Revenue Service Form 1040 (Schedule C) for 2019. "That fraudulent Schedule C falsely claimed that Haslem's business had a gross income of $102,874, no expenses, and a net profit of $102,874," the charging document states.

Haslem ultimately received nearly $21,000 in PPP loan money from a lender not named in the court file. She is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Enacted in March 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act authorized the Paycheck Protection Program to provide forgivable loans to businesses trying to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

The stimulus bill also empowered the Small Business Administration to give out EIDL money to qualifying small businesses that were grappling with significant financial disruption due to COVID-related closures and lockdowns. The program offered $10,000 advances that did not have to be paid back.

Florida became a hot spot for fraudulent COVID-19 loan activity, and in September 2022, the Department of Justice announced the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida would lead one of three national "COVID-19 fraud strike force teams." South Florida federal prosecutors had seized more than $23.5 million in stolen relief funds and charged defendants in more than 80 cases as of September 2022.

Law enforcement officers and police department employees have been at the center of numerous cases of COVID-19 relief schemes in South Florida.

In October 2022, an ex-Coral Springs police officer pleaded guilty to defrauding the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. In April 2023, a former Miami police officer pleaded guilty to felony wire fraud for submitting deceptive documents to cash in on COVID-19 relief funds.

Last October, prosecutors carried out the most sweeping bust on pandemic loan fraud in South Florida to date, announcing federal fraud charges against 17 Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) employees for allegedly fleecing relief programs in separate schemes. Just last week, a former BSO jail lieutenant was charged with two counts of wire fraud after prosecutors accused him of fraudulently obtaining nearly $168,000 in PPP loans.