Photo Credit: Karlie Redd/Instagram
We’ve been hearing reports of small businesses that needed Covid19 loans from the government for weeks, unable to get them across the news and the major companies that chose to give their money back after getting called out for taking it. After seeing this 24 hour coverage, one would think they wouldn’t try and take advantage of a service with so many eyes on it. But alas, common sense isn’t so common.
We present to you, Maurice Fayne, ex-fiance of Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta star Karlie Redd. He owns a trucking company that he received $2 million of the Payment Protection Program, the federal government’s means to keep businesses paying their employees. And what did he do? He used it on child support, leased a Rolls Royce and bought jewelry. He was arrested Wednesday on federal bank fraud charges.
U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak stated in a Department of Justice press release, “The defendant allegedly took advantage of the emergency lending provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program that were intended to assist employees and small businesses battered by the Coronavirus. We will investigate and charge anyone who inappropriately diverts these critical funds for their own personal gain.”
Federal agents gave him a chance to come clean when they first interviewed him, but he lied. Then they searched his house and seized $80,000 in cash as well $9,400 in his pockets. They took the $1.5 million in jewelry he allegedly bought with the stolen funds. They also seized over $500k from 3 bank accounts.
“The defendant allegedly stole money meant to assist hard-hit employees and businesses during these difficult times, and instead greedily used the money to bankroll his lavish purchases of jewelry and other personal items,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The department will remain steadfast in our efforts to root out and prosecute frauds against the Paycheck Protection Program.”
An important thing to note is that when Faye first became engaged to Karlie Redd, he gave her a $150,000 ring. It seems he probably wanted to make some of that money back with the federal government. It isn’t cheap dating someone on reality television. This should serve as a cautionary tale to anyone looking to defraud the government at least as it pertains to covid19.
