A former trucking company owner from Missouri was found guilty on multiple charges including bank fraud, Clean Air Act violations, and threatening witnesses.
On August 30, 2024, a jury found Farmington, Missouri resident Christopher Carroll, 54, guilty on 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, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Carroll was part owner of Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair LLC. This company was additionally convicted on 6 Clean Air Act violations.
Officials say that in April of 2020, Carroll and business partner George Reed submitted false documents in order to obtain a $1.2 million Pandemic Protection Program (PPP) loan for a time share exit company called Square One Group LLC.
The loan applications were filed in the names of Reed and Carroll’s wives to hide the fact that Carroll was a paroled felon and therefore ineligible for a PPP loan, authorities said.
Rather than use the loan to pay salary or insurance costs for employees, Carroll reportedly started buying trucks and land to start a trucking company.
Carroll and Reed then applied for and received PPP loan forgiveness, falsely claiming that the loan funds were spent on payroll and other business expenses, officials say.
Carroll and Reed went on to apply for and receive another $1.6 million loan, taking $660,000 in “owner draws” from the company.
Officials also say that Carroll removed emissions control devices from the diesel trucks in the Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair fleet.
“During the resulting investigation, Carroll would later ask one employee to “take the fall,” and told another that he would stop paying for his lawyer if he talked to federal agents. He did follow through on that threat,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Reed, 69, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September of 2022. Reed admitted to failing to pay several employees and to terminating health insurance policies for at least 17 employees.
“The jury found Christopher Carroll responsible for nearly $3,000,000 in pandemic relief loan fraud, poisoning the air through Clean Air Act violations and then threatening witnesses to try and cover up his crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming. “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 emissions 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.”
“Christopher Carroll’s company was granted millions of dollars from the PPP program but laid off dozens and dozens of its employees,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “To add insult to injury, Carroll wouldn’t have even qualified for the funds if it weren’t for his employees. We thank the jury for holding Carroll accountable for fleecing the PPP program, which was designed to help people who were out of a job through no fault of their own during the pandemic.”
The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division.