Arheel's Uncle
Senior Reporter
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Georgia Couple Accused of Using Fake Trucking Companies to Get $365K in PPP Loans
June 22, 2021
Columbus, GA – A Georgia couple faces decades in prison after recently being indicted in a plot to use fake trucking companies in order to secure more than $360,000 in federal loans.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Curtis Porch, 48, and Dereen Porch, 43, both of Columbus, GA, were indicted earlier this month on charges of wire fraud and theft of government property related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The four-count indictment against the couple alleges the defendants submitted multiple fraudulent loan applications to the Small Business Administration (SBA) in June and July 2020, seeking CARES Act money for three shell companies — FNP Trucking, Porch to Porch Transportation LLC and Buckner Transportation — that “suffered no losses as a result of harm related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
For example, prosecutors said Curtis Porch falsely stated on one loan application that Buckner Transportation had gross revenues of $268,000 for the previous year when in fact the company “had no employees actively engaged in any actual trucking activities, no revenues and no apparent assets.”
Further, court documents assert each of the trucking companies seeking federal assistance either did not exist, did not conduct business or only existed on paper at the time the loan applications were submitted.
The couple allegedly received a total of $364,200 from the SBA.
Both Curtis and Dereen Porch entered “not guilty” pleas in the case.
If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for wire theft and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for theft of government property.
Photo: Dereen Porch/Facebook
Georgia Couple Accused of Using Fake Trucking Companies to Get $365K in PPP Loans
June 22, 2021
Columbus, GA – A Georgia couple faces decades in prison after recently being indicted in a plot to use fake trucking companies in order to secure more than $360,000 in federal loans.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Curtis Porch, 48, and Dereen Porch, 43, both of Columbus, GA, were indicted earlier this month on charges of wire fraud and theft of government property related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The four-count indictment against the couple alleges the defendants submitted multiple fraudulent loan applications to the Small Business Administration (SBA) in June and July 2020, seeking CARES Act money for three shell companies — FNP Trucking, Porch to Porch Transportation LLC and Buckner Transportation — that “suffered no losses as a result of harm related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
For example, prosecutors said Curtis Porch falsely stated on one loan application that Buckner Transportation had gross revenues of $268,000 for the previous year when in fact the company “had no employees actively engaged in any actual trucking activities, no revenues and no apparent assets.”
Further, court documents assert each of the trucking companies seeking federal assistance either did not exist, did not conduct business or only existed on paper at the time the loan applications were submitted.
The couple allegedly received a total of $364,200 from the SBA.
Both Curtis and Dereen Porch entered “not guilty” pleas in the case.
If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for wire theft and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for theft of government property.
Photo: Dereen Porch/Facebook