Scamfluencers - ENCORE: Prep School Perpetrator

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

We’re revisiting the story of prep-girl-gone-bad Danielle Miller now that her jet-setting scamming has landed her in prison. After being humiliated and exploited at her elite New York City prep school, Danielle sets out to reinvent herself. She ends up befriending a group of young socialites in Los Angeles, and before long, she’s flying on private jets, picking up pricey dinner tabs, and running her own P.R. firm. But when Danielle is arrested crossing into the U.S. border from Mexico, the source of her money comes into question — and her life slowly begins to unravel.  Listen to Scamfluencers on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/scamfluencers/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to scamfluencers early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Apple podcasts. Sarah, one thing I still can't get over is how much scamming happened during the pandemic. Why did Tom Brady's company TB12 get almost a million dollars from PPP loans, which were meant for small businesses, don't forget? I think about that all the time. I think a lot of people regret not getting PPP loans when they could have.

Well this isn't an update on our favorite very divorced quarterback. We're actually going way back to one of our earliest scamfluencers, Danielle Miller. She was a private school socialite who was the victim of an early internet revenge porn scandal. And then she turned to a life of crime. In July 2020, she got more than $1 million in pandemic-related loans by stealing people's identities. She used the money meant for those hit hardest by the pandemic to charter private jets

and pay for luxury apartments. And of course, she posted all about it on social media. An update for our listeners, in the fall of 2023, Danielle was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution. Wow, I did not know that. She's in prison right now. Well, Sarah, we have new episodes of Scamfluents are starting in August, and we kick it off with Dance Moms very own Abby Lee Miller.

Will I learn the Jojo Siwa dance by then? Probably. For now, here's our encore of Prep School Perpetrator. [♪THEME MUSIC PLAYING [♪MUSIC FADES out Haggy, are there any people you remember from, like, the heyday of viral internet culture who were never able to escape what made them famous in the first place? Yeah, I feel like there are a few people who went viral when we were teenagers. Like, for example, the shoes guy who made the shoes video. If I saw him, I would feel compelled to be like,

let's get some shoes. Let's get some shoes. Let's get some shoes. I mean, I think about it a lot because I feel like these days there's someone going viral every week. But like 15 years ago, you were the Internet's main character for months. Yeah, it used to take a very long time to escape that specific type of internet infamy, huh? Yeah. And for some people, they never really recover their reputations.

And things just get so much worse from there. It's May 2021 in Miami, Florida. Danielle Miller is a 31-year-old brunette with a big smile and an even bigger personality. She takes stock of her high-rise beachfront apartment, whitewashed walls and marble countertops. Her walk-in closet is filled with Dior, Louis Vuitton, and her coveted Rolex. But now, after a whole lot of hustling and grinding, Danielle is taking some much-needed time off to rest. Mostly, she's recovering from a Brazilian butt lift. It's left her sore and swollen.

But on this day, Danielle's rest and relaxation is promptly interrupted when she gets a call from the front desk. She's needed down in the lobby. It's urgent. So Danielle, wearing only a compression bodysuit, stands up and slowly makes her way to the front door. She pulls it open and is greeted by a team of agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Danielle barely gets a glimpse at their bulky vests and federal badges before they push past her into the apartment.

Danielle winces and screams. Um, they better not pop her BBL. I don't know how that works, but... Well, it's worse because the feds tell her that she's under arrest for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. She's cuffed, and the agents ransack her immaculate apartment.

They pull out fake IDs and tens of thousands of dollars in cash and money orders. Her privilege, her family connections, her generational wealth, none of it can help her anymore. Danielle is no longer a private school socialite. She's a common criminal. Hello, this is Alice Levine, host of the chart-topping Wondry podcast,

The Price of Paradise, the true story of an island dream that turned into a living nightmare. And we have a brand new episode for you, which is out now, because since we released the series, we've had so many people asking questions, wanting us to pull back the curtain on the show, wanting to know the lowdown on Teodoro's affair, the kidnapping, and how on earth there were two Phil Gaskins. In this episode, we answer all of those and more with two people who experienced the story unfolding firsthand. Listen to The Price of Paradise Exposed and if you haven't yet listened to the full series,

you can find all seven episodes on Wondry Plus or wherever you listen to podcasts. tell you it's all in your head. Hysterical, a new podcast from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad free on Wondery Plus. From Wondery, I'm Saatchi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagge, and this is Scamfluencers. Most scammers are hunting for wealth, influence, and notoriety. But today's scammer had all three, long before she started scamming. And she gained online infamy in the early days of the internet, but not by choice. Danielle became the victim of a brand new kind of exploitation and an unfair reputation

that she couldn't shake. We're gonna explore one woman's turn from a promising private school student into a cunning criminal. So I'm calling this episode, Prep School Perpetrator. This story really starts in 2004. Danielle Miller is an eighth grader at Horace Mann,

an ultra prestigious private school in the Bronx. Danielle's parents are a really big deal New York power couple. Her father is a prominent attorney who heads up the New York County Lawyers Association. Oh, and her mom is a former Rockette. Okay, that is kind of like New York City royalty. Yeah, she's got them gams, man. One evening after school, Danielle is in her family's apartment building just outside of Central Park, near the Ritz-Carlton and the Plaza Hotel.

Isn't that how you grew up? Yeah, that's exactly how I grew up. And I can already really relate to this story. Yeah. Well, Danielle is surfing the internet when her AOL instant messenger pings. It's a message from a boy she has a huge crush on. My heart's racing, my stomach hurts, I am Danielle.

Well, this guy has a proposition for her. He thinks that she's a prude. Can she prove that she's not? Danielle's heart starts racing. Here's how she describes her mindset years later on the Forbidden Fruit podcast. I just like, didn't want him to judge me. Like I didn't want him to think I was too sexually conservative.

I didn't want him to think I wasn't any fun. Like that's what my like 13 year old mind thought. So Danielle weighs her options. If she doesn't do it, her crush might never talk to her again. And if she does do it, it might be a little uncomfortable, but she also might have a shot with him. The gamble seems worth it. So Danielle gets up her nerve, she takes off her clothes, she hits play on the Britney Spears song, Toxic, and then she grabs a Swiffer mop and starts recording it all on her laptop. Danielle ends up sending a series of these videos to her crush.

What more proof could he need that she's not a prude? But he's gone silent on Instant Messenger, and the whole night passes, and nothing comes. Okay, this is already so depressing. I feel so bad for Daniel. Yeah, it's definitely gonna get worse. Because the next day, Daniel's running late to school. And I wanna give you a better sense of the school,

because it actually inspired one of the TV writers on the show Gossip Girl. Graduates from the school include Bill Barr, who would later go on to become the U.S. Attorney General, Elliot Spitzer, who would go on to become New York Governor, and James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Danielle finally reaches campus. She's sweating and panting, and she hustles towards the morning assembly. It's held in a brick building with huge windows, home to all the middle school classrooms. campus, she's sweating and panting, and she hustles towards the morning assembly. It's held in a brick building with huge windows, home to all the middle school classrooms.

All of her peers are gathered in the open atrium, waiting for classes to start. And she feels like everyone is staring at her. And then she hears someone mumble something about making a video together. Oh no. Yeah. Everything crystallizes for Danielle in sudden blinding horror. Everyone is staring at her because they have seen the videos.

And thanks to the lawlessness of the early internet, this is just the beginning of Danielle's humiliation. So obviously the video spread like wildfire. It turns out Danielle's crush sent the videos to Danielle's best friend. He tried to persuade her to make a similar video. But she didn't. And here's what Danielle told the Forbidden Fruit podcast about what her best friend did instead.

She decided to send it to the whole eighth grade, who sent it to the whole ninth grade, who sent it to the whole 10th, 11th, 12th, and then all of their camp friends. And somewhere along the way, the videos get uploaded onto Friendster, one of the world's first social media platforms, and to the file-sharing site LimeWire. They go viral before going viral is even a thing. Before long, reporters are posted outside of Horace Mann

and in front of Danielle's parents' apartment building. New York Magazine runs an article about Danielle. It's called the Paris Hilton Effect. And Sarah, this article does not age well. Can you read an excerpt? In the latest instance of a teenager attempting to convey her hotness factor, a Horace Mann eighth-grader emailed the gockily explicit video, which resembles an audition for a pedophilic porn film, to a male classmate she had a crush on.

I mean, the funny thing about these sorts of stories, especially at the time, you know, 20 years ago, everybody was ascribing these really intense, complicated motives to girls who are making these videos, and it's like, it's not complicated at all. A guy she had a crush on asked her to do something, and she did it. It's his fault.

But of course, nobody's writing an article about the boy. They're writing it about the girl who did it, right? Oh, this is very upsetting. So this article comes out around the same time as Paris Hilton's leaked sex tape is exploding across the internet. But I want to be really clear. Danielle's videos are not a sex tape.

Danielle is a child. This is child pornography. But the backlash against her is swift. Danielle becomes both infamous and a social outcast. Parents forbid their kids from hanging out with Danielle, who is now known by another name, Swiffer Girl. Danielle's parents put her in therapy, but they okay her dropping out after just two sessions. Danielle's parents put her in therapy, but they okay her dropping out after just two sessions. Desperate to exert any power over Swiffergate, as it's now being called, Danielle decides to embrace the persona of Swiffer Girl, a wild, reckless party girl who doesn't feel inhibition or shame.

Yeah, I mean, this is all kind of dark, but I don't blame Danielle for embracing something she can't shake. Yeah. These people are going to hate her no matter what and call her a certain thing. Like I could just see that mentality forming in order to kind of like take control of the narrative, you know? Well, again, she's just a child, right? Yeah. So this is a child's response to trauma.

But Danielle also starts lying. Initially, it's just about simple dumb stuff. Like she claims that her family owns the whole building they live in. They don't. And then, for her Sweet 16 party, Danielle invites 600 kids. That's basically every private school kid in New York City, all of whom have probably seen her videos. At the party, a Rod Stewart impersonator reportedly performs a passionate rendition of the song Hot Legs,

and Danielle reportedly claims that he's actually Rod Stewart. Now Danielle explicitly denies ever lying about the Rod Stewart impersonator or even booking him at her party but she does admit to telling lies as a teenager and her lies are only going to get bigger. In August of 2008, Danielle Miller moves west to attend Arizona State University. And finally, she's mostly anonymous, just another freshman with a fresh start. Or at least in the beginning. One day, she's in class when her professor assigns a book, Aria Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs.

It's a book about gender theory and it largely critiques raunch culture. When Danielle gets to chapter five, Pigs in Training, there's a section about, well, her. It's about Swiffer Girl, framing the most humiliating event of her life in an academic way. Sarah, can you read a bit of the section out loud like we're in class with Danielle?

People started calling the school Ho-Man. As for the eighth out loud, like we're in class with Danielle. People started calling the school Ho-Man. As for the eighth grader, the dissemination of her amateur porn swiftly resulted in a major uptick in her level of popularity and celebrity. Regardless of the context, it must be so jarring when you're trying to run away from this thing that happened to you to read it like, for the class you're taking.

Yeah, I mean, it's probably one of the most jarring experiences of her life. And Danielle is shaken. One day, she comes back to her dorm room and finds a note slipped under her door. She unfolds it and her heart nearly stops. It says, I know who you are, Swiffer Girl. And then her identity is revealed much more publicly. She's outed as Swiffer Girl in a fraternity listserv. And around this time,

Danielle's relationship with her parents becomes strained. Separated on opposite ends of the country, they stop talking for months at a time. After college in 2012, Danielle decides to move even further west, to a place where everyone reinvents themselves, Los Angeles. Danielle is trying to distance herself from the past. But a lot of her new friends in Los Angeles also went to private schools in New York,

like Paris Hilton's little brother, Baron, and Esme Brown, whose father helped develop the Hamptons. Esme has long dark hair, much like Danielle, and a dainty ribbon of cursive text tattooed across her right arm. She's the kind of it girl whose party photos, taken at places like Nobu and the Chateau Marmont, frequently appear on nightlife blogs. I could see the exact type of girl Esme is in my head.

I remember seeing these photos on blogs and MySpace and all these things. I just wanna say we are aging ourselves right now. There are people listening to this who were not around for this, and they are listening to us be old. But at this point, Danielle could almost pass for a socialite herself. She lives lavishly. She's holing up at these swanky hotels and wearing all the latest designer clothing, which also just keep in mind the time when this is happening.

All those clothes were so ugly, Sarah. the time when this is happening. All those clothes were so ugly, Sarah. But it seems like Danielle is trying really hard to impress her new friends, who are actual socialites. She often picks up expensive dinner tabs, and it's kind of unclear how she's paying for any of this. Danielle claims it's with money she saved while tutoring at ASU and working as director of events

and marketing for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce. Yeah, something tells me that's not how she made this money. No, probably not. At work, Danielle's helping to throw a charity event and she's under pressure to sell tables to wealthy donors. So she approaches Esme knowing that she comes from generational wealth. But a $4,000 table is not in the budget, even for Esme. Danielle's bummed, but she shakes it off, and then she tells Esme that she bought the table herself. She invites Esme to join her at the gala and party for free.

But a few weeks later, Danielle hears from her father, and oof, he's furious. Esme's mother had apparently called him after discovering some suspicious charges in Esme's furious. Esme's mother had apparently called him after discovering some suspicious charges in Esme's account. Five different cash checks written out to Danielle Miller from Esme. They're checks that Esme definitely did not write. And one is for exactly $4,000.

Now, I'm going to add, Danielle denied to New York Magazine that any of this happened. But Danielle's father reportedly tells Danielle that she will pay every penny back to Esme. And on top of that, she will have no further financial assistance from him. She's cut off. Danielle's parents, by the way, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. We also reached out to Danielle and we didn't hear back. So Danielle reportedly starts hustling.

And for her, this means doing freelance PR for a series of high-profile clients and brands. She names her business D Mills PR, and it seems like this business funds all of her partying. But one night in 2015, Danielle's out clubbing with friends wearing sky high heels. When she decides to slide down a handrail, she slips and she lands really hard. Oof. Danielle breaks her back and it's a serious wake up call. Now she's at a crossroads. Danielle has to decide, is she going to clean up her act or double down on a life

of deception? Hello, I'm Rob Brydon. When I looked out at the podcast landscape, I thought to myself, you know, there just aren't enough podcasts. And so I launched Brydon and where I talked to a series of interesting creative types. We're now on to our fourth series. And I've been speaking to amongst others, Ruth Jones, Tidy, Chris McCausland, Aisling B, Richard Ayoade, and Ewan Reyon. And that's just a few. We tend to chat for about 45 minutes to an hour, never longer. It's a terrific conversation every time.

Reminiscence where appropriate, and an exchange of anecdotes. I do like an anecdote. So do join me, Rob Brydon, and listen to Brydon and on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad free on Wondery Plus by subscribing in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. I'm Mike Bubbins. I'm Ellis James. And I'm Mike Bubbins. I'm Ellis James. And I'm Steph Guerrero, and we're convinced that our podcast, The Socially Distanced Sports Bar, is going to be your new favourite comedy podcast with just a little bit of sport thrown

in. You don't have to love sport, like sport, or even know anything about sport to listen. Because nobody has conversations which stay on topic, And it's the same on our podcast. We might start off talking about ice hockey, but end up discussing, I don't know, 1980s British sitcom Alo Alo instead. Let's use the word nuance in your pitch for Alo Alo. He's not cheating on his wife, he's French. It's a different culture.

If you like me and Mammoth, or you like Alice in Fantasy Football League, then you'll love our podcast. Follow the Socially Distant Sports Bar wherever you get your podcasts. The Socially Distant Sports Bar, it's not about asymmetrical overlords. James, podcasting from his study. And you have to say that's magnificent. I feel like I like to. Danielle's injury is super serious, but there is a silver lining. It allows her to reconnect with her parents after about two years of not talking.

And by the time she's recovered, she decides to take her life in a new direction. In 2016, she enrolls in law school, following in her father's footsteps. Her parents are, frankly, skeptical. And Danielle told New York Magazine that her father, quote, thought I'd be a terrible attorney. He said my ethics were off the wall. Imagine your dad being like, you would be a terrible attorney not because you're like lazy or bad at working hard. It's because your ethics are off the wall, honey.

I mean, also, I have to break it to her dad. Does he think lawyers have good ethical guidelines? Because not really. But Danielle is determined to show them that she can thrive. And she does. In her first year at Pepperdine University, according to her LinkedIn, she's appointed vice president of its Sports and Entertainment Law Society. And she gets a prestigious summer internship with a New York judge.

But the pressure of law school is a lot. And Danielle's relationship with her parents is fragile. She returns home for Thanksgiving break during her second year of law school. And to unwind after a stressful semester, Danielle books an appointment at Body Factory on the Upper West Side. It's a fancy medical spa famous for facials and injections. But when Danielle checks in, police are waiting for her. I'm sorry, what? Yeah, so she's arrested and charged with identity theft and grand larceny for nearly $5,000 in services purchased with stolen credit card information. The spa reportedly noticed that she'd paid for previous visits using credit cards that were eventually flagged as fraudulent.

Thanks to her father's high-profile connections, Danielle lawyers up right away. She hires Barry Kamens, who goes on to represent Harvey Weinstein and Rudy Giuliani. Thanks to Barry, Danielle is allowed to return to California to continue law school. But there's a catch. She has to return to New York for all of her future court dates. And after this, it seems like all contact between Danielle and her parents basically stops. Again, we reach out to Danielle's parents for comment and we didn't hear back. That is extremely rough. I mean, families are complicated.

Sometimes people are at the end of their rope and they make very harsh decisions. Well, once again, Danielle's cut off, financially and emotionally. She's on her own. And that's when she meets a man who fills that void, who seemingly makes her forget all of her troubles and her pending court date. Enter Mackenzie Day. He's a multi-hyphenate, a model, personal trainer, videographer,

marine veteran. He's got a killer jawline and 42,000 Instagram followers. Mackenzie's recently moved to LA to fulfill his dream of being a content creator. And he actually posted a video on Instagram of his mindset around the time he moved. Everyone has a time in their life when they have to ask this. So I was like, yo, is this it? Is this what we're doing?

Is this how things are gonna go? And you have to make a decision. It's a very serious looking video. You know, he's sitting by a beach. He's not really looking at the camera. He's staring off into the distance and this is someone who's clearly kind of going through it. Yeah, it does sort of seem like he's seeking purpose.

Not long after he arrives in L.A., McKenzie founds a media company called New Day. And I'm gonna tell you, it's spelled N-U-D-A-E. That's great. That is how he chose to spell it. So McKenzie is looking for LA business connections. Everything falls into place when a wealthy friend introduces him to a rising talent in the PR world, Danielle Miller. Now, by this time, Danielle has talent in the PR world, Danielle Miller.

Now, by this time, Danielle has founded a new PR firm, the Epic Advisory, and she's already got a roster of music supervisors that she's doing PR for. Mackenzie could use someone like Danielle, so he asks her if she wants to join their two companies together and become business partners. To his delight, she agrees, and it turns out they have more than just business chemistry.

It seems like they have romantic chemistry too. In the beginning, things go really well. Their relationship is blossoming and so is their business. Sarah, I think this photo of Danielle and Mackenzie perfectly illustrates their relationship. Wanna take a look? Yeah, it's like one of those photos people post when they're like, I'm a hustler

and that's how I get to where I am. And they're on a private jet, surrounded by phones and there's a laptop and they're working together and she's really just kind of looking at him with these adoring eyes. Yeah, well, pretty soon they begin to rack up a lot of business expenses. Mackenzie asks Danielle how they're affording all of this.

She reportedly tells him that her father is financing it. Danielle loops Mackenzie into emails that she says are with her father, and Mackenzie seems to be satisfied. But what looks on the outside like a smooth partnership is apparently much more complicated. The couple seems to have a lot of disagreements. And after one particular argument, Mackenzie randomly gets an email

from Danielle's father's secretary. Sarah, can you read it? Yeah, it says, hey, I'm really worried about Danielle. Have you talked to her? I have to imagine that Mackenzie doesn't know how to answer. He probably feels like Danielle's dad's secretary is trying to make him feel bad for his fight to answer. He probably feels like Danielle's dad's secretary

is trying to make him feel bad for his fight with Danielle. And he feels manipulated. As wild as it sounds, he starts to suspect that Danielle herself might have been behind all the emails, that she's been pretending all along to be her dad and her dad's secretary. Yeah, because wasn't her dad no longer speaking to her? Like, didn't her mom say, like,

we're cutting you off, we can't have contact with you anymore? Yeah, I mean, it's all quite fishy. And it's also all too much for Mackenzie. And after only a few months, he asks to end their partnership. In response, Danielle sends him an email saying that she's suicidal. He calls the cops, who send Danielle for a psych evaluation. Danielle denies this to New York Mag. She says that Mackenzie faked the messages. He calls the cops, who send Danielle for a psych evaluation.

Danielle denies this to New York Mag. She says that McKenzie faked the messages. After their split, McKenzie wants answers. So he guesses the password to Danielle's email account, and he finds emails about credit cards and loans, all taken out in his name to the tune of almost $200,000. Danielle denies all of this. She says that they took out credit cards together for their business.

There were no loans. McKenzie did not respond to our requests for comment. In the end, McKenzie doesn't press charges, and Danielle comes out of this partnership relatively unscathed. Danielle's capture scamming under the radar, but a simple mistake is about to land her in some serious trouble.

A few months after her split from Mackenzie, Danielle is driving back from Mexico, where she celebrated her 29th birthday with some friends. She's in the car wearing an Hervé Leger bathing suit with a Missoni cover-up and Valentino heels. As she approaches the checkpoint to pass into San Diego, Danielle hands over her passport to the border agent. and Valentino heels. As she approaches the checkpoint to pass into San Diego, Danielle hands over her passport to the border agent.

And that is when her birthday celebration turns into a total nightmare. Because Sarah, she's told that there's a warrant out for her arrest. Remember that court date that Danielle had for the fraudulent spa charges? Yeah, something's telling me she did not go to court in New York. Yeah, correct. She completely missed it. And without funding from her parents, Danielle has to get a public defender. She's denied bail and deemed a flight risk

thanks to her little trip to Mexico. So she awaits trial at Rikers. And Sarah, I don't know how much you know about Rikers, but it's one of the largest prisons in the world. And it's located on an island between Queens and the Bronx. It's only about 10 miles south of Danielle's old prep school Horace Man, but it's a world away from it. But in a lot of ways, prep school prepared Danielle for the cutthroat social hierarchy of prison. She knows she needs friends and fast.

And she has some creative ideas on how to make friends. Here's what she said on the Forbidden Fruit podcast. So I made them braid my hair in like this ghetto way so that I could like fit in more. Oh brother. Yeah. After she gets the braids, Danielle enters the prison storm-style lodging, which has four rows of ten beds. And from a dark corner of the room, a woman calls out in a strange accent, Who braided your hair?

She offers Danielle the bed next to her and asks Danielle if she'd like to read a news article about her. It's Anna Delvey. Shut up, you're lying. Sarah, I know, I know it sounds like I'm making this up, but the two New York scammers become best friends. Anna shows Danielle how to stay safe, how to barter for goods, and how to make their uniforms more fashionable by rolling up the waistbands of their pants. Danielle soaks up this intel and she learns everything she can during the eight months she's at Rikers.

She's released in the summer of 2019 after pleading guilty to her charges. And she's about to put her prison skill set to good use. In early 2020, Danielle's out at a high-end Upper East Side restaurant when she runs into one of her pals from Rikers, Ciara Blas. Ciara is five years younger than Danielle. She's a pretty brunette with big eyes who was in prison for violating her parole. Three years earlier, she'd been arrested at Bergdorf Goodman after skimming credit cards to fund a $22,000 shopping spree. So now that Ciara and Danielle are both out in the world again, they want to have some fun, makes the money. So they decide to team up. Sierra already has a scam in motion, but she needs somebody to help her by impersonating the people whose identities they're stealing.

Sierra promises it's easy money. Danielle's in, and pretty soon the cash starts rolling in. This seems so risky in so many ways. I understand there's a high reward, but the risk seems so high considering her record. She's never successfully accomplished a scam. Yeah. Well, when COVID hits, it essentially shuts down

all their favorite places to spend money. So, Sierra and Danielle decide to relocate. They wind up in Miami, Florida, where it seems like they have nothing to do but go on designer shopping sprees and, of course, to post about them on Instagram. Danielle posts shaky videos of her and Sierra in a baby blue Porsche Boxster driving around Miami, singing along to Noah Cyrus. Oh my gosh, these girls. Yeah. Well, Danielle and Sierra's joyride ends a few months later

at a Chase Bank in Sarasota, Florida. At the drive-through window, Danielle allegedly hands over a U.S. passport under the name Erica Beers and attempts to take out eight grand. But while she's at the drive-through, sheriffs pull up and conduct a traffic stop. They've been tipped off by a branch manager that her passport looked fake.

And once they confirm with the real Erika Bierce that she did not authorize the withdrawal, they arrest Danielle and Sierra. Danielle is charged with seven counts of fraud, and Sierra is charged with just one count. They both plead not guilty. The sheriffs find fake driver's licenses with Danielle's face on them,

three credit cards, six cell phones, and 25 grand in cash. But Danielle isn't deterred. After Ciara gets released and then bails her out, Danielle decides to take on her biggest mark yet, the U.S. government. Everything to play for has taken on its biggest challenge yet. We've had two-parters, we've even had three-parters. This is a four-parter, and the reason why we're giving it four podcasts is it's probably

the greatest individual rivalry in Premier League history. Yes, Arsene Wenger versus Alex Ferguson. We've bitten off more than we can chew. And what it reminds me of, I saw a video on social media the other day of a Python having swallowed a duvet. And the vets were trying to get the duvet out of the Python, I thought that is like me and Colin having to skip over FA Cup finals because there's so much to talk about when it comes to Wenger and Ferguson. Doubles, trebles, pizza round the face, it has everything.

If you want to listen to the podcast equivalent of a python swallowing a duvet, follow everything to play for on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge seasons early and ad free right now on Wondry+. In early 2021, special agent Jacqueline Cunningham is assigned to investigate a big case of identity theft. Jacqueline has been with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for more than a decade, and she knows how to follow the money, especially when that money happens to be stolen. Jacqueline zeroes in on a victim that we'll call Laura. Laura lives in Massachusetts, and it appears that she's taken out a small business administration loan for more than $102,000. But there's just one problem. Laura says that she never applied for a loan.

Jacqueline examines the bank account opened in Laura's name and analyzes its debit charges. When she finds a charge to a private airline company, she calls up the airline. And that's what leads to a break in the case. The airline says that a private flight was booked a few months earlier to Southern California from outside of Miami. The airline sends over a copy of the passenger's ID. On the ID is a white woman with brown hair and long eyelashes. It's the same face that Jacqueline discovers photos of

on an Instagram account with the handle, Killadamilla, as in Danielle Miller. And at least one post there really catches her eye. Sarah, can you describe it? Oh yeah, so it's Danielle, and she's in front of a Rolls Royce, in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel where people get dropped off.

And you know, like she's showing off her fit, her car, and the fact that she's in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel all at once. Right. And the caption says, she's back and she's not for everyone. Yes, exactly. Jacqueline knows that right around this time

this image was posted, a charge for dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel showed up on the bank account opened in Laura's name. It's not the only giveaway. Danielle Miller also posted a photo of herself in a hotel room at Petite Hermitage, a boutique hotel in West Hollywood. She's looking really smug in a Gucci sweater while holding a Birkin bag. And the date on the Instagram post corresponds to a $5,500 transaction made to the hotel under Laura's bank account.

So Jacqueline has her culprit. And Danielle's life of carefree crime is about to hit a new low. A few weeks later, Danielle is at home in her luxury high-rise apartment in Miami. She's supposed to be recovering from surgery, but well, you know what happens next, and it's anything but restful.

Federal agents burst into her home and arrest her. The government alleges that Danielle used stolen identities, like Laura's, to apply for more than $900,000 in economic injury disaster loans. Those were the loans meant for people hit hardest by the pandemic. Oh my god, is that how she paid for her BBL? I mean, maybe. But while awaiting trial, Danielle's court-appointed attorney tells her that a reporter would like to interview her.

The reporter is a former Horace Mann classmate named Gabrielle Bluestone. Now, Gabrielle's made a name for herself covering fraudsters. She was on the Fyre Festival beat, and she served as a producer on the Netflix documentary about it. She even wrote a book called Hype, all about internet scam artists. So when she sees the Justice Department's announcement about Danielle's arrest, she immediately remembers her from their prep school days.

It's Swiffer Girl. Wow, full circle moment. So Gabrielle and Danielle weren't really friends in high school, but Gabrielle, like almost everyone at the school, knows all about the scandal. And she feels horrible about how it unfolded. So she tells Danielle that she wants to tell her side of the story. And Danielle decides that this is a good opportunity. A chance to finally come

clean about the middle school incident that's haunted her ever since. So Danielle decides to open up. Over the course of the next few months, she sits for interviews with Gabrielle. Yeah, I mean, she's finally telling her quote side of the story, I guess, to someone who had a similar upbringing. I could see why she would trust Gabrielle. I don't know that I would trust anybody who had gone to my school if that had happened to me, but I can understand why it felt comfortable. Yeah.

And the article drops on New York magazine's website in February, 2022. Here's the headline. I more so consider myself a con artist than anything, what Daniel Miller learned at Horace Mann and Rikers. And there's a picture of Danielle at the top of the article. Sarah, can you take a look at it and describe it? She's in this very styled outfit, this like pale blue suit. She's sitting on a couch, her feet are up on a table and there's like a plume of

vape smoke coming out of her face. And it is like her honestly kind of looking like a mob boss. It's not a great photo to have accompanying your redemptive arc. Nearly 20 years after Swiffergate, Danielle goes viral for a second time. And it's not exactly the sympathetic portrayal she probably hoped for. Danielle knows she has two outstanding court cases.

So she goes on the defensive, or more specifically, she goes on the Forbidden Fruit podcast. My voice is not heard in that. That is not my narrative. That is not my story. I do not support the story that she wrote. In the episode, Danielle denies ever scamming, even if the government's evidence against

her is pretty damning. She's been charged with three counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. She's under house arrest and has to wear an ankle monitor, which draws comparisons to Paris Hilton yet again. If Danielle is convicted, she faces more than 20 years in prison. All right, Sarah, I mean, this is obviously a really complicated scam story

because it starts with such an awful traumatic event that isn't the fault of our scammer. But it seems like all the decisions she made after were so ill advised. I mean, I know she has to deal with what happened to her probably every single day. Like, there's no way that can happen to you and it doesn't shape how you view the world and how you interact with people. Yeah. That being said, it's still not an excuse for anything. Yeah, I have a tremendous amount of empathy for her as a child, but it stops once she's grown. Like, the entirety of the Swiffer Girl stuff is ludicrous

because she didn't hurt anybody, but people went after her. But what she did as an adult, there are real consequences to that. There's real people that she fucked with. She had so many opportunities to turn it around, but, you know, she's never really faced any real consequences for anything she did. And she, again, could have been caught once and been like, okay, maybe I won't do that. And at the end of the day, she believes she deserves to be rich and famous. And instead of doing what normal girls like her do, which is, you know, just become like

an Instagram baddie, she defrauded people allegedly. I mean, the scams were not about the stuff. It wasn't about what she could buy or what she could possess. She was already wealthy. We know that. The scams were very much about getting people to see her as powerful and important and valuable. And when you really think about it,

that's when it gets really sad because that comes from not getting that as a 15 year old because of this one stupid thing that people completely blew up on you Not to be like move on but if this is something that is affecting you so badly then do the work to move on from it Because anyone who remembers Swiffer Girl has probably moved on like Like, the only reason why I know who Swiffer Girl is is because of her actions now. But also, if she doesn't get sent to jail, she's gonna scam again.

Yep. And she's probably gonna scam from jail. Those are just my predictions. Yeah, I do think you're right. Have you learned any lessons today? No. Ha ha ha! Other than, like, ban high school and ban rich high schools and ban rich kids.

Yeah. We have the OC. We can just watch that over and over again. Yeah. Two versions of Gossip Girl. Yeah. Laguna Beach, the hills. I'm tired.

I don't need more. Tired of them. All right. Well, high school's over. If you like Scamplincerz, you can listen to every episode early and ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondry.com slash survey.

This is Prep School Perpetrator. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagge. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were, I more so consider myself a con artist than anything. What Danielle Miller learned at Horace Mann and Rikers by Gabrielle Bluestone for New York Magazine and Danielle Miller's interview with the podcast Forbidden Fruit.

Rachel Borders wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Saatchi Cole and Sarah Hagge. Our senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reed. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Tate Busby. Our story editors are Sarah Enney and Allison Weintraub. And our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Sound design is by James Morgan.

Fact-checking by Gabrielle Drolet. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velazquez for Freeze On Sync. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelow, Stephanie Jens, and Marshall Louie for Wondery. He killed at least 19 people during the 1980s in South Africa. Very dark times. People were desperate. We were looking for him.

We couldn't find him. And nobody knew where he was. Every single one of his victims was black. He reached such a stage where he was now hunting. World of Secrets from the BBC World Service. Season 3, The Apartheid Killer. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.