'Love & Hip Hop' Star Sentenced To 17 Years For Bank Fraud

DACULA, GA — Dacula resident and “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” star Maurice Fayne was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison Thursday for running a Ponzi scheme from his towing business and fraudulently obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program loan.

Fayne also faces five additional years probation and must pay back nearly $4.5 million to victims of a multiyear, multistate Ponzi scheme.

According to prosecutors, Fayne, 38, applied for a $3.7 million PPP loan and received just over $2 million in April 2020. The money was supposed to fund the payroll of 107 employees that Fayne claimed were working for him, and make “mortgage interest payment, lease payments, and utility payments, as specified under the Paycheck Protection Program Rule,” prosecutors said, according to a report from Fox5 Atlanta.

Instead, Fayne used used $1.5 million of the $2 million to purchase $85,000 in jewelry, $136,000 to lease a Rolls-Royce, $50,000 for restitution from a previous fraud case, $40,000 in past due child support, $907,000 to start a new business in Arkansas, and $230,000 to associates helping him run his Ponzi scheme, according to a report in WSB-TV 2.

“Fayne planned to use the PPP program as a cover for his long-running Ponzi scheme,” acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said in a statement reported by multiple outlets. “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.”

Fayne was also found guilty of running a multistate Ponzi scheme between March 2013 and May 2020. Prosecutors said Fayne promised investors he would use their money to operate his business, but instead paid off personal debts and spent on extravagances, like $5 million at a casino in Oklahoma. He is now required to pay back roughly $4.5 million to the more than 20 victims of the scheme.

Fayne was convicted May 11.