Former Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star Maurice Fayne was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison for fraud charges related to a Ponzi scheme and PPP loans.
Fayne, who goes by Arkansas Mo, received the sentence after taking a plea deal, reported TMZ. Before the agreement, he was facing 30 years in prison. He was sentenced to 210 months, or 17.5 years, in federal prison. The sentence is five years longer than the 151 months recommended by the prosecution after the plea deal.
Fayne’s transgressions date back to March 2013, when he started running a multistate Ponzi scheme responsible for scamming at least 20 people, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In April 2020, he applied for a $3.7 million loan from the Paycheck Protection Program for his trucking business. The application stated he employed 107 employees and paid an average of $1,490,200 in payroll. Fayne told the feds he would use the money to maintain payroll and pay business-related bills.
Instead, he spent the money on personal expenses and indulgent purchases. Fayne paid $40,000 in back child support and withdrew $65,000 in cash from his bank account. He also used the PPP loan for indulgent purchases, including $85,000 in custom jewelry and a trip to Oklahoma, where he spent over $5 million in a casino. He took the shenanigans even further by purchasing a Rolls Royce.
Fayne also gave $230,000 to his Ponzi scheme associates and used an additional $907,000 to start a new business venture.
“Fayne planned to use the PPP program as a cover for his long-running Ponzi scheme,” acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine told the AJC in a statement. “The funds the program supplies serve as a lifeline to many businesses desperately trying to stay afloat during the pandemic, and unfortunately, his fraud helped deplete those precious dollars.”
After he gets out of jail, Fayne will spend five years on supervised release and must pay $4,465,865.55 in restitution to his victims.
