A Georgia man has been sentenced to prison for obtaining a fraudulent COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and operating illegal trucking businesses.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the northern District of Georgia Roderick Bashon Billingslea, Jr., 30, of Dacula, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May on Aug. 13, to two years, six months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $591,668.89 and the cost of his incarceration, or $49,770 annually.
Billingslea was convicted on these charges on April 11, after he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of falsification of records, according to the statement.
According to U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court, in January 2020, the Department of Transportation ordered Billingslea’s trucking business, Billingslea’s Inc., to cease all operations due to multiple safety violations. Billingslea was also prohibited from creating any successor trucking entities.
Buchanan added, despite this order, Billingslea filed multiple registrations with DOT for new trucking entities that listed false owners and fake addresses. Billingslea controlled and operated these illegal businesses by stealing the corporate identities of legitimate trucking businesses. He then employed unsuspecting truck drivers who were unaware that they were hired by an illegitimate business.
Billingslea used the drivers until they incurred DOT violations, after which he hired new drivers and moved on to another illegal entity., according to Buchanan.
Billingslea funded this illegal trucking enterprise with money he obtained from a PPP loan that he received through false pretenses. In June 2020, Billingslea applied for and received a PPP loan for $564,363 on behalf of Billingslea, Inc. He lied on his application, claiming that he was not barred from operating a trucking business. Billingslea also inflated the number of employees and monthly wages for the business.
In April 2022, he obtained forgiveness of the loan by submitting false tax documents with the forgiveness application.
“Billingslea falsified documents in order to receive PPP funds to operate illegal and unsafe businesses that he was ordered to stop operating,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “He has now been held accountable for his crimes. But our office’s work continues in collaborating with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who defraud the United States government, including by stealing funds from PPP and other important programs.”
This case was investigated by the Department of Transportation – Office of the Inspector General, Small Business Administration – Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Secret Service.
