A star on VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” allegedly scammed the federal authorities’s coronavirus mortgage program out of greater than $2 million — and blew a lot of the money on jewellery and youngster help funds, authorities mentioned Wednesday.
Maurice “Mo” Fayne — who appeared within the reality-TV present’s eighth season — made his first courtroom look Wednesday in Georgia on federal financial institution fraud costs, in accordance with the US Division of Justice.
Fayne, 37, utilized for a Cost Safety Program mortgage for a company referred to as Flame Trucking on April 15, saying he wanted the cash to pay workers and for different enterprise bills.
As an alternative, he spent a lot of the $2,045,800 money infusion to splurge on himself, federal prosecutors alleged.
Inside days, he allegedly squandered $85,000 in jewellery — together with a Rolex Presidential watch, a diamond bracelet, a 5.73 carat diamond ring. He additionally spent $40,000 for youngster help, the prosecutors mentioned.
When federal brokers interviewed him on Could 6, Fayne denied the allegations.
However a search of his dwelling in Dacula on Monday turned up about $80,000 in money, together with $9,400 that Fayne had in his pockets, and the jewellery he allegedly bought with the PPP funds.
Brokers additionally discovered a 2019 Rolls-Royce Wraith, which nonetheless had a brief vendor tag on it. They usually seized about $503,000 in PPP funds from three of Fayne’s financial institution accounts.
“The defendant allegedly stole cash meant to help hard-hit workers and companies throughout these tough instances, and as a substitute greedily used the cash to bankroll his lavish purchases of jewellery and different private objects,” mentioned assistant legal professional common Brian A. Benczkowski in an announcement.
The Division of Justice has launched an investigation into the $670 billion program set as much as assist small companies struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. It filed costs final week in opposition to two different individuals who allegedly scammed this system.
The Trump administration has additionally pledged to assessment all loans bigger than $2 million, amid outcry over large corporations like Shake Shack and the Los Angeles Lakers getting assist.