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Maurice Fayne

Defendant

PPP
Type
Person
Role
Defendant
Programs
PPP
Updated

The profile

Owner of Flame Trucking and a cast member of "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta"; pleaded guilty in N.D. Ga. No. 1:20-cr-00228 to six counts covering a $3,725,500 PPP application and a separate investment-fraud scheme; sentenced September 14, 2021 to 210 months and $4,465,865.55 in restitution.

Individuals whose conduct was challenged or called into question during or after the pandemic. See sources: Plea agreement, May 11, 2021 Amended judgment, Sept. 15, 2021

In the archive

Identity and role

Maurice J. Fayne, a/k/a "Arkansas Mo," of Dacula, Georgia, was 38 at sentencing. He appeared on the reality-television series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta and owned Flame Trucking, the company in whose name he sought PPP funds.

The Flame Trucking investment scheme

From March 2013 through May 2020, per the Second Superseding Indictment, Fayne and three codefendants (Daniel Eric Jay and twin brothers Michael D. Sargent and Mark T. Sargent, middlemen who recruited investors from among their own friends and family) took more than $5 million from more than 20 investors in Flame Trucking. Investors were told the small, unprofitable company was on the verge of a multimillion-dollar Walmart contract; the defendants invented bills that supposedly had to be paid to close the deal, impersonated a real Walmart executive in faked texts and disguised-voice calls, and paid a few investors "make-believe" profits out of other investors' own money. Fayne, whom the indictment describes as the scheme's organizer and leader, kept most of the proceeds. That included more than $5 million he transferred to the Choctaw Casino and Resort in Oklahoma for personal gambling and entertainment, a figure the prosecutor repeated on the record at Fayne's December 2020 bond-revocation hearing and DOJ repeated at sentencing. When the PPP opened in April 2020, that operation gained a new funding source; the acting U.S. Attorney said at sentencing that "Fayne planned to use the PPP program as a cover for his long-running Ponzi scheme."

The case / pandemic-relief role

In April 2020, Fayne applied for a PPP loan of more than $3.7 million ($3,725,500), claiming Flame Trucking had 107 employees and average monthly payroll of about $1.49 million. He supported the application with false statements and fabricated bank records: per the Second Superseding Indictment, the Arvest Bank statements he submitted were fabricated because Arvest Bank had shut down Flame Trucking's account in September 2019. The loan was approved and funded for more than $2 million ($2,045,800).

The court file tied the proceeds to child support, restitution owed in an earlier fraud case, cash withdrawals, jewelry, a Rolls-Royce lease, transfers connected to the Ponzi scheme, and a new Arkansas business.

  • Charged: in the Northern District of Georgia, United States v. Fayne, No. 1:20-cr-00228-MHC-JKL, following his arrest in 2020; the charges spanned conspiracy and wire fraud (the Ponzi scheme) and bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution (the PPP application).
  • Codefendants: Daniel Eric Jay and twin brothers Michael D. Sargent and Mark T. Sargent, charged in the wire-fraud conspiracy as the middlemen who recruited investors (Second Superseding Indictment, ECF 96). The government dismissed the indictment as to Mark T. Sargent after his death on May 31, 2021 (ECF 198).
  • Bond: released on conditions after his May 2020 arrest, including an explicit bar (imposed May 13, 2020) on any direct or indirect contact with victims or potential witnesses. On December 22, 2020, Magistrate Judge Justin S. Anand revoked bond and ordered Fayne detained pending trial, finding clear and convincing evidence that Fayne, by then representing himself, had contacted a victim of the investment scheme, who told case agents she felt threatened. That episode was the factual basis for the obstruction enhancement applied at sentencing.
  • Pleaded: guilty (conviction by plea across six counts).
  • Sentenced: September 14, 2021 (judgment ECF 231, filed September 15, 2021) by U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen: 210 months (17 years, six months) in prison, concurrent across the six counts, followed by 5 years of supervised release, and restitution of $4,465,865.55 (PACER-verified sentence record, linked below); the judgment's split between PPP-related and Ponzi victims, with the latter joint and several with co-defendant Sargent, is cited to the judgment; our copy of it is image-only. A forfeiture order also entered (ECF 207).
  • Appeal: the Eleventh Circuit affirmed on July 25, 2022. Fayne has since filed pro se post-conviction papers.

Where they are now

Bureau of Prisons records (register number 73197-019; inmate locator cited; we do not have a copy) list Fayne at FCI Texarkana with a projected release date of September 30, 2032.

Sources held in this archive

Court records

Sources

  • Second Superseding Indictment, U.S. v. Fayne, Jay, Sargent & Sargent, ECF 96 (N.D. Ga.) — scheme dates, 20+ investors/$5M+ scale, Walmart-contract pretense, Choctaw Casino and Resort transfers exceeding $5 million; local text at 015 ECF 96 gov.uscourts.gand.278523.96.0, summary at 015 ECF 96 gov.uscourts.gand.278523.96.0.
  • Government's Motion to Dismiss Indictment as to Mark T. Sargent (deceased May 31, 2021), ECF 198; summary at 007 ECF 198 gov.uscourts.gand.278523.198.0.
  • Transcript of Bond Revocation Hearing, Dec. 22, 2020 (transcribed Oct. 22, 2021), ECF 251 — the AUSA's on-record scheme description and the revocation ruling: in the full docket text set (documents 251.0 and 251.1).
  • DOJ (N.D. Ga.), "Reality TV star sentenced for PPP fraud and for operating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme" (Sept. 15, 2021) — includes the "more than $5 million at a casino in Oklahoma" figure: Reality TV star sentenced for PPP fraud and a Ponzi scheme (original: justice.gov · stored capture)
  • Judgment and commitment, U.S. v. Fayne, No. 1:20-cr-00228-MHC-JKL (N.D. Ga.), ECF 231 (Sept. 15, 2021) — 210 months, 5 years supervised release, $4,465,865.55 restitution: PACER-verified sentence record (row "Maurice Fayne"); judgment PDF in the local case archive (image-only).
  • Forfeiture Order, ECF 207: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.278523/gov.uscourts.gand.278523.207.0.pdf local copy
  • Eleventh Circuit affirmance (July 25, 2022): in the full docket text set.
  • BOP Inmate Locator, register no. 73197-019 (FCI Texarkana; projected release Sept. 30, 2032): https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ local copy
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