A former trucking company owner was found guilty for his role in the fraudulent collection of nearly $3 million in pandemic relief loans.
On Friday, Aug. 30, a jury in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis convicted Christopher Carroll, 55, of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, 13 violations of the Clean Air Act and two counts of threatening a witness.
Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair, which was co-owned by Carroll, received a total of 16 Clean Air Act violations.
“The jury found Christopher Carroll responsible for nearly $3 million in pandemic relief loan fraud, poisoning the air through Clean Air Act violations and then threatening witnesses to try and cover up his crimes,” U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming said in a news release. “He lined his pockets with money that was supposed to save jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. He used more of the loan money to buy land and a fleet of trucks so he could start a trucking company, and then had the emission control equipment removed to save on fuel costs. We will seek a significant prison sentence for this defendant and his company, and any sentence, by law, will include mandatory restitution.”
According to court records, Carroll and his partner, George Reed, submitted a false and fraudulent application for a $1.2 million Paycheck Protection Program loan in April 2020 for the time share exit company they ran, Square One Group LLC. The loan application contained false statements, including that Reed and Carroll’s wives owned the company. Reed and Carroll submitted loan applications in their spouses’ names to conceal Carroll’s status as a paroled felon, which would have prevented his company from receiving Paycheck Protection Program funds.
Instead of using the money to continue paying employees, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Carroll bought trucks and land to start a trucking company. Carroll and Reed then applied for loan forgiveness, falsely claiming that they’d spent the money on payroll and other permitted expenses.
They then sought a second loan of more than $1.6 million.
When that loan was approved, Carroll and Reed took a total of $660,000 in “owner draws” from the company, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In addition to the fraud, Carroll was accused of having emission control equipment removed from the company’s trucks, as well as for threatening an employee to “take the fall.”
Reed, 69, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September of 2022 and admitted fraudulently applying for, obtaining and using the two PPP loans. He admitted that the company failed to pay a “significant number” of employees, despite their receipt of the loans that would have allowed them to do so. His plea also says Carroll terminated the health insurance benefits of at least 17 employees. LL
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