A Durham attorney pleaded guilty Thursday, January 20, 2022 to conspiracy to commit multiple fraud schemes and filing a false federal income tax return, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of North Carolina.

Tiffany Dawn Russell, 43, was originally indicted in November 2020 for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, access device fraud and misuse of a social security number. According to the indictment, Russell and her co-conspirators applied for loans and credit cards with social security numbers that were not issued to them by the Social Security Administration.

“By doing so, they created new credit profiles or synthetic identities for themselves to open financial accounts and make purchases from retailers without any intention of paying for the items and services obtained,” stated the release. “Russell was charged with using a synthetic identity to purchase a BMW and to obtain a credit card which she used to pay for her 2016 butt augmentation surgery.”

Co-conspirators Rahne Cooper and Darius Hinton previously pleaded guilty to committing bank fraud for their illegal use of synthetic identities.

Russell agreed to plead guilty to participating in an extensive, multi-year conspiracy to obtain more than $2.5 million from at least 12 financial institutions and the United States Small Business Administration, stated the release.

“According to the government, Russell used a synthetic identity because she had poor credit....

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