A previously convicted fraudster ran a Ponzi scheme and bilked investors out of $40 million in a truck investment venture, then used the money to pay personal expenses, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors claim that over a 10-month period — June 2021 until April — Franklin Ray, 50, of Canton, Michigan, defrauded 275 investors in CSA Business Solutions LLC, headquartered in Imlay City, Michigan, and that he set up a separate bank account and collected another $1.9 million from investors after his arrest in early March.
In fact, Ray has been indicted on seven charges related to four fraud schemes.
Besides the alleged truck investment fraud in CSA Business Solutions — in which he claimed to have 4,704 trucks and 4,909 drivers when he only had two trucks and four drivers — feds claim Ray obtained nearly $2 million in funds meant to help struggling small businesses stay afloat during the pandemic through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.
He was also indicted in a scheme to fraudulently induce a Manhattan-based real estate holding company to pay a $175,000 deposit to cover startup costs for a joint venture between CSA Business and the unnamed holding company, according to court documents.
“We allege Ray used his purported trucking companies as vehicles for fraud, including by submitting fraudulent applications for small business loans during the Covid-19 pandemic, and by…
