Mo Fayne net worth: Rapper ordered to pay $4,465,866 for PPP bank fraud
Rapper Mo Fayne will spend the next 17.5 years of his life in jail, a Georgia judge ruled after he was found guilty of bank fraud. The rapper was also asked to cough up a heavy $4,465,866 in restitution for fraudulently submitted a $3.7million loan claiming it was for his trucking business. Reportedly, the jail time is a result of a deal Fayne cut with prosecutors, he was facing a 30-year sentence for his crime according to reports.
Fayne is not the only person to be caught for defrauding the government in the middle of the pandemic. In July 2021, Florida hedge fund manager Gregory Blotnick was charged for stealing $4.6 million from the PPP plan, which he then lost in the stock market. Previously in April, Maryland pastor Rudolph Brooks Jr was caught for fraudulently obtaining $3.5m from the PPP, and using it to buy 39 cars including a Tesla. In October 2020, rapper Baby Blue was also arrested for defrauding the PPP program of over $24M.
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In fact, PPP fraud is a very widespread issue. According to one report, the DoJ has charged 209 individuals to date of frauding money meant to keep businesses, and people afloat. In total, around $445m was swindled from the PPP program up to April 2021. Fayne's case isn't the biggest though, but the judge's ruling is clear that the justice system will come down harshly on those that cheated the system. Will Fayne be able to pay the over $4m fine? To answer that, we'll have to look at his net worth.
What is Mo Fayne's net worth?
Before we tell you his exact net worth, you should know how he made his riches. Fayne is a rapper and reality TV star, best known for appearing on 'Love & Hip Hop'. But, he also owns a business, the very same one he used to fraudulently obtain the PPP loans. Fayne is listed as the owner of Flame Trucking, an Arkansas-based transport company. In his PPP application, Fayne said the firm had 107 employees and an average monthly payroll of around $1.5 million. He also claimed it to be a profitable business when in reality it "never generated enough revenue to cover its expenses."
To answer the question of his net worth, there's really no straight answer. Some sources report it to be just around $1m, while others claim it is as high as $4m. Given that most of his income appears to come from Flame Trucking, it seems more likely he's on the lower end of the estimate. It's not clear how much he made from his 'Love & Hip Hop' appearance, but beyond that, he hasn't appeared in any major TV shows. Fayne also doesn't have any other businesses, and he reportedly has some deep debts to pay.
During the investigation, federal agents seized $617,000 from Fayne’s bank accounts and nearly $80,000 in cash from his residence. It's unlikely his net worth was more than $1m, given the fact he used the PPP money to pay off $40,000 in past-due child support, and $50,000 in restitution owed in a previous fraud case. In a June filing, Fayne's then-attorney Tanya F. Miller also noted that Fayne "is currently without the ability to work, has no financial resources." She also claimed Fayne was unable to pay for representation, which certainly would have not been the case if he had a few more million in his bank account.
Ultimately, it is hard to say what Fayne's net worth exactly is. What we can be sure of though, is that it wasn't as large as some others who have been caught for fraud. Given that he used most of the money to pay off his debts, it indicates his net worth wasn't very large. But an exact number is hard to say. It's unclear how he plans to raise the money to pay for the massive fine at this time, especially given that he will now be behind bars.