Trucking company owner sentenced to prison for Paycheck Protection Program fraud

A Georgia man has been sentenced to prison for taking out a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and operating illegal trucking businesses during the COVID era.

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 on August 13 by U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May to two years and six months in prison, followed by three years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $591,668.89 in restitution and the cost of his incarceration, or $49,770 annually.

Billingslea was found guilty on those charges on April 11 after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of forgery, the statement said.

According to U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan, the indictments and other information presented in court, in January 2020 the Department of Transportation ordered Billingslea's trucking company, Billingslea's Inc., to cease all operations due to numerous safety violations. Billingslea was also barred from forming successor companies.

Buchanan added that despite this order, Billingslea filed several registrations with the U.S. Department of Transportation for new trucking companies with false owners and addresses. Billingslea controlled and operated these illegal companies by stealing the corporate identities of legitimate trucking companies. He then hired unsuspecting truck drivers who were unaware they were being hired by an illegitimate company.

Billingslea would employ the drivers until they broke traffic laws, then hire new drivers and move on to another illegal company, Buchanan said.

Billingslea funded this illegal trucking business using money from a PPP loan he obtained through false pretenses. In June 2020, Billingslea applied for and received a $564,363 PPP loan in the name of Billingslea, Inc. He lied on his application, claiming he was not prohibited from operating a trucking business. Billingslea also inflated the company's number of employees and monthly wages.

In April 2022, he obtained forgiveness of the loan by attaching false tax documents to the forgiveness application.

“Billingslea falsified documents to obtain PPP funds and to conduct illegal and unsafe businesses that he was forced to abandon,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “He has now been held accountable for his crimes. But our office continues to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who defraud the U.S. 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), the Small Business Administration (Office of the Inspector General), and the U.S. Secret Service.