‘Love & Hip Hop’ Cast Member Faces Prison Time, Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Paycheck Protection Program
In May 2020, VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta cast member Maurice “Mo” Fayne, also known as Arkansas Mo, was charged with federal bank fraud, according to The U.S. Department of Justice. According to TMZ, the Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star has pled guilty to the charges he was facing.
Fayne has put in a guilty plea for the six counts of federal bank fraud after federal prosecutors say he funded an expensive lifestyle after applying for and then receiving funds from the government’s Paycheck Protection Program.
Fayne has been ordered to forfeit nearly $100,000 from several of his bank accounts and also eight of his 2015 Kenworth T680 trucks. For his guilty plea, the prosecution agreed to drop 14 other charges and they agreed to recommend that Fayne gets a 151-month prison sentence, which comes out to about 12.5 years. He was looking at the possibility of serving a maximum term of up to 30 years.The Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta personality had been arrested on federal bank fraud charges arising from a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan that he obtained in the name of Flame Trucking. Fayne, 37, is from Dacula, Georgia.
Fayne is the sole owner of Flame Trucking. On April 15, 2020, Fayne submitted a PPP loan application in the name of Flame Trucking to United Community Bank (UCB). He stated that the business had 107 employees and an average monthly payroll of $1,490,200. He was seeking a loan in the amount of $3,725,500, and he certified that the loan would be used to “retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage interest payments, lease payments, and utility payments, as specified under the Paycheck Protection Program Rule.”
UCB funded the loan for $2,045,800. Shortly after Fayne received the money, he allegedly used more than $1.5 million of the PPP loan proceeds to purchase $85,000 in jewelry, including a Rolex Presidential watch, a diamond bracelet, a 5.73-carat diamond ring for himself, and to pay $40,000 in child support. These purchases and payments were unauthorized use of PPP funds under the CARES Act.
HBCU Alums Launch First Black-Owned Alcohol Delivery Service
The first Black-owned alcohol delivery service is on the market and it of course was created by a pair of HBCU alums.
Navarros Grevious and Mikáel Pyles are Clark Atlanta University grads, fraternity brothers, and the owners of the alcohol industry’s latest game-changer, QuikLiq. The platform allows customers to purchase wine, beer, and spirit beverages from the comfort of their digital device and have them delivered to their front door.
“QuikLiq is a tech-forward digital marketplace that provides our customers with access to the best selection of wine, beer, and spirits, right from the comfort of their homes,” the company website says. “By partnering with the premier alcohol retailers along Miami Beach and throughout the US, we have set out to enhance the way our customers and retail partners interact through digital engagement. With just a click, we are bringing the essence of Miami Beach and all the great vibes that come with it, right to your home. ”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, QuikLiq currently only operates in Miami, but the company has plans of expanding into the state of Georgia in 2021, Black Business reports. Everything from premium tequilas, whiskey, mixers, and bubbly champagnes are available for order with delivery fees starting at $7.50.
The owners both have strong business experience with Grevious coming from a finance and accounting background. The company CEO tapped into his past studies and previous work as an external auditor for Deloitte when putting together his business model, AfroTech reports. Pyles, QuikLiq’s president and chief strategy officer, graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration with a concentration in supply chain management. His past roles include working as a luxury real estate broker at a Manhattan-based firm and managing a $400 million portfolio after relocating to Minneapolis.
With QuikLiq on the market, you’ll be able to get your next Miami AirBnB turnup started off right.
Hospital Admits Black Doctor Received ‘Lack of Empathy and Compassion’ From Staff During COVID Treatment
A hospital is owning up to its wrongdoing but claiming it had nothing to do with the death of a Black doctor who was suffering from COVID-19.
Dr. Susan Moore was admitted to the Indiana University Health North Hospital in Carmel, Indiana, on Nov. 29 after testing positive for COVID. Within days of her hospitalization, Moore complained about the doctors not listening to her pleas to receive Remdesivir, an antiviral drug that has been used to treat COVID-19, Atlanta Black Star reports.
At the time, Moore said the white physician bypassed her comments of being in pain and even threatened to discharge her. “I was crushed,” she said in a Facebook video. “He made me feel like I was a drug addict.”
As a medical professional herself, Moore knew how to advocate for the treatment she knew she deserved at the hospital. “I put forth and I maintain if I was white,” she said in the video post, “I wouldn’t have to go through that.”
After being discharged from the hospital on Dec. 9, she returned 12 hours later after her temperature spiked and blood pressure dropped. She was transferred to Ascension St. Vincent Hospital Carmel and placed on a ventilator where she said her treatment improved. However, Dr. Moore died on Dec. 20.
Now, following a review into her mistreatment at UI Health, the hospital’s CEO is admitting to the racial bias she endured following a panel review.
“The medical management and technical care Dr. Susan Moore received at IU Health did not contribute to her untimely death; however, there was a lack of empathy and compassion shown in the delivery of her care,” Dennis Murphy, CEO of IU Health, said in a written statement. “Cultural competence was not practiced by all providers and several caregivers lacked empathy, compassion and awareness of implicit racial bias in the delivery and communication of Dr. Moore’s care.”
Though no hospital staff will be terminated, Murphy said they will receive diversity training while on administrative leave. All hospital employees will undergo racial bias training “to enhance compassion, encourage empathy and facilitate an optimal patient experience” with a focus on “mitigation, unconscious bias, microaggressions and anti-racism to foster an inclusive culture.”
IU Health will also hire patient care advocates to aid in “support for team members who experience burnout and poor patient outcomes.”
The hospital will also hold meetings with community organizers “to publicly acknowledge the history of racism in healthcare and Indiana, and how IU Health will work toward reconciliation and change.”
In January, a state lawmaker responded to Dr. Moore’s mistreatment by drafting a bill that would require cultural awareness training for healthcare professionals in the state of Indiana.
Nancy Pelosi Calls For A Boycott Of 2022 Winter Olympics In China
Reuters – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday called for a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, criticizing China for human rights abuses and saying that global leaders who attend would lose their moral authority.
U.S. lawmakers have been increasingly vocal about an Olympic boycott or venue change, and have lashed out at American corporations, arguing their silence about what the State Department has deemed a genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China was abetting the Chinese government.
Pelosi, a Democrat, told a bipartisan congressional hearing on the issue that heads of state around the world should shun the games, scheduled for February.
“Here’s what I propose – and join those who are proposing – is a diplomatic boycott,” Pelosi said, in which “lead countries of the world withhold their attendance at the Olympics.”
“Let’s not honor the Chinese government by having heads of state go to China,” Pelosi said.
“For heads of state to go to China in light of a genocide that is ongoing – while you’re sitting there in your seat – really begs the question, what moral authority do you have to speak again about human rights any place in the world?” she said.
An independent United Nations panel said in 2018 that it had received credible reports that at least 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims had been held in camps in China’s Xinjiang region. Beijing describes them as vocational training centers to stamp out extremism, and strongly rejects accusations of abuse and genocide.
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern said the games should be relocated.
“If we can postpone an Olympics by a year for a pandemic, we can surely postpone the Olympics for a year for a genocide,” McGovern said, referring to the decision by Japan and the International Olympic Committee to delay the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo due to COVID-19.
“This would give the IOC time to relocate to a country whose government is not committing atrocities,” McGovern said.
Demands for some form of boycott of the Beijing Games are growing.
Last month, Republican Senator Mitt Romney introduced an amendment to broader legislation to counter China that would implement a U.S. diplomatic boycott.
And a coalition of human rights activists on Tuesday called for athletes to boycott the Games and put pressure on the IOC.
U.S. President Joe Biden‘s administration has said it hopes to develop a joint approach with allies to participation in Beijing’s Olympics, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken has repeatedly said that the issue has not yet been broached in discussions.
Asked about Pelosi’s comments, a senior administration official told Reuters that the administration’s position on the 2022 Olympics had not changed.
Biden, also a Democrat, has said China is America’s strategic competitor, and has vowed to not let the country surpass the United States as a world leader on his watch.
Proponents of Americans competing in Beijing’s Olympics say it would be unfair to punish athletes, and that the Games would provide a platform for the United States, which has one of the highest Winter Olympic medal counts, to show its vitality on the global stage.
Sarah Hirshland, the chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said in a written statement to the hearing that the committee was concerned about the “oppression of the Uyghur population,” but that barring U.S. athletes from the Games was “certainly not the answer.”
“Past Olympic boycotts have failed to achieve political ends – and they should give all of us pause in considering another boycott,” she said.
(Reporting by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Chris Reese and Rosalba O’Brien)
Taraji P. Henson Launches Mental Health Program For Black Students
As a former substitute teacher, Taraji P. Henson is on a mission to end racial bias in the classroom. The award-winning actress recently launched a program that promotes mental health awareness and racial equality.
Henson designed “The Unspoken Curriculum,” a six-week program that helps Black scholars learn and identify racial bias while speaking openly about their mental health. Launched in Mental Health Awareness Month, the Empire star stressed the importance of tackling race-related issues head-on.
“We’re in a state of emergency right now,” she toldPeople. “But it takes us to change it… we can’t hide the ugly, you’ve got to deal with the good and the bad if we want to see change.”
Inspired by the wake of protests in the last year following the police shooting of George Floyd, and how the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the Black community, Henson created the virtual hub to serve as a support group where students can speak openly about their school experiences. Prior to starring in 2001’s Baby Boy, Henson witnessed racial bias in the classroom firsthand.
“I taught a special education class, but all of the students were Black boys who had all of their mental and physical capabilities,” she recalled. “These children came from traumatic home situations, and the school labeled them ‘special ed. These students were only in the 4th grade and they would grab my hand and say, ‘Ms. Henson! Ms. Henson! There was a shootout nearby last night, look at the bullet holes in the wall,’ and laugh. That’s trauma — that’s not something to celebrate or normalize.”
The program runs from May 17 to June 21and includes virtual discussions from mental health experts and safe spaces moderated by therapists and teachers. Henson launched the curriculum through her mental health non-profit, The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, Bin News reports.
“We need more professionals in education to recognize children dealing with trauma and help them, not criminalize them,” she said. “The more we talk about it, and the more we educate ourselves, the more we know how to do better.”
Meet the Black Woman Who Started a Farm in Washington With the Help of Crowdfunding
The pandemic has inspired many ventures out of the need to stay afloat financially or simply because people want to pursue their happiness during an upsetting time.
Meet Shellie-Ann Kerns, a Jamaican immigrant who decided to return to her farming roots. Her photo-rich Instagram account chronicles her daring crowfunding journey to build a Black-led farm and bread school in Washington’s Middle Satsop Valley. In one post, Kerns is seated on a tractor. In another, she holds something leafy and green which was grown at her 20-acre homestead.
(Instagram photo credit: @Bunkhouseacres)
“I am an unapologetically Black woman launching a farm in western Washington. Your donations will help me buy a tractor and implements, drill a new well, build high tunnels as well as construct a commercial/demonstration kitchen for making spice blends and teaching,” she said on her GoFundMe page.
The child of Jamaican subsistence farmers mentioned that she is a committed locavore. She has kept chickens for eggs and manure, grown vegetables seasonally for her kitchen, traded with neighbors, and donated surplus eggs to the Matlock Food Bank, which is grateful to receive locally produced food, according to her GoFundMe account.
So far, Kerns has raised more than $77,000 through GoFundMe.
“Your donations will give me a much-needed boost in purchasing a compact tractor and hiring help to clear the land for large-scale planting. Funds will also be used for building high tunnels and a demonstration kitchen for preparing spice blends and imparting another of my passions- baking with sourdough,” Kerns wrote.
The Olympian reported that Kerns quit her job as an aircraft dispatcher in February, although on Instagram, Kerns mentioned that she was furloughed. Observations inspired the budding farmer to take action.
“I saw empty grocery shelves,” Kerns said to The Olympian. “Farmers were having to throw out food. The supply chain was disrupted, and I knew that the answer was having more local food available.
(Instagram photo credit- @bunkhouseacres)
Kerns told AfroTech that farming comes from her mother’s side. Her father’s family has agricultural roots, too. Although Bunkhouse Acres’ website explained that Kerns left Jamaica to join her spouse in Washington State, in 2013, her heritage remains a central part of this adventure-filled story that also incorporates the issue of food insecurity.
Fresh food can also seem like a privilege to those who cannot afford it. Kerns informedAfroTech that she applied for grants to help subsidize her produce. The socially conscious farmer hopes to be able to offer EBT, SNAP and food stamp recipients reduced produced rates to feed people who need help.
“I’m not just feeding the people in Seattle [who] have these well-paying tech jobs, but I’m feeding the people who just don’t know necessarily whether they’re going to be able to fix their car or pay their rent,” Kerns told AfroTech.
Nephew Accuses Uncle and LAPD Officer For Having Him Shot at Protest, Sometimes It Be Your People
A young filmmaker is claiming his uncle, an LAPD officer, ordered his colleagues to shoot him with a non-lethal projectile in a lawsuit.
Asim Jamal Shakir Jr., 23, said that officer Eric Anderson wanted him to be assaulted by the police during a George Floyd protest that took place last May, The New York Post reported.
Shakir was live-streaming in a crowd of protesters who were backing away from the police after some were being shot with rubber bullets. Seeing his LAPD uncle on the opposing side, Shakir taunted him, saying “Eric! Our ancestors are turning over in their grave right now.”
“Look at me in my eyes, Eric! … You know how your daddy feeling right now? That could have been you!” Shakir told the uncle, referring to George Floyd who was killed by Derek Chauvin, a now-former Minneapolis cop who was convicted of murder.
Although the live stream does not show the officer doing anything, Shakir pointed out that his uncle wanted him directed others to shot him with a nonverbal command.
Eventually, Shakir did get hit in the hand. The surging pain caused him to drop his phone. When he retrieved his phone off the ground, blood on his hand was visible.
The shooter has yet to be identified but the LAPD said that Anderson was carrying a “less-than-lethal” rifle.
On Monday, Shakir filed a suit and a federal judge ruled against the police department’s use of projectiles at protests, according to The Los Angeles Times.
“This whole entire situation has been a tragedy and nothing short of a nightmare,” Shakir said at the Tuesday press conference with attorney Carl Douglas, one of the defense attorneys in the O. J. Simpson murder case. “This is not just for me – it’s for the people that don’t have the opportunity to speak out, that don’t have the opportunity to voice their pain and their hurt.”
Shakir is one of many legal complaints made against the city of Los Angeles saying the police used unnecessary force.
“This young Black male activist called for his own blood, his own uncle, to think about the immorality of what he was doing, and the result was his uncle ordering the shooting of his nephew with rubber bullets,” Melina Abdullah, a BLM LA co-founder, said. “That just speaks volumes to the complete lack of any kind of moral character, and what happens when people become police … They are willing to even sacrifice their own family in order to advance the interests of a police state.”
Douglas filed a damages claim last year and called for Shakir’s uncle to be fired, indicating that Shakir has been disowned by his relatives, signaling pain in suffering.
“LAPD has not only injured this young man, but torn this family apart,” Douglas said.
The Los Angeles Police Department has declined to issue a statement on the ongoing litigation.
Supreme Court Votes Unanimously, No Warrant Home Entry Unconstitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court just made it harder for police to enter your home without a warrant, voting unanimously to toss a lower court decision dismissing a lawsuit brought by a man who sued after police entered his home and took his guns.
The high court ruled 9-0 directing the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review Edward Caniglia’s lawsuit claiming police violated his constitutional rights by taking him to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, before entering his home and taking his guns without a warrant, following a 2015 argument with his wife.
The 1st Circuit ruled Cranston, Rhode Island, police did not violate the Fourth Amendment ban on illegal search and seizures saying the department’s actions were justified under the community caretaking doctrine. However, the Supreme Court said warrantless searches do not extend to a person’s home.
“What is reasonable for vehicles is different from what is reasonable for homes,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the decision according to Yahoo News.
Warrantless searches became a hot topic last year after the death of Breonna Taylor who was shot six times by Louisville Metro Police. The police entered Taylor’s home while she and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were sleeping. The pair woke up and Walker, a legal gun owner, fired a shot, police returned fire, killing Taylor.
Taylor’s death, and the death of George Floyd, sparked national and global protests denouncing police brutality last summer that led to significant budget cuts for police departments across the nation.
Clark Neily, the senior vice president for criminal justice at the Cato Institute, said the ruling is a sign of the Supreme Court’s refusal to expand police powers in the wake of Taylor’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Perhaps not coincidentally, the Court’s unanimous ruling comes at a time of national debate over whether we should dial back the scope of police activities and only use them for actual law-enforcement purposes,” Neily, told Time Magazine. “This represents a welcome, albeit unusual, refusal on the justices’ part to give the government greater leeway in conducting warrantless searches of people’s homes and personal effects.”
Actor Blondy Baruti Launches BePerk App to Give ‘Power to the Users’
Social media has become a primary element in the lives of people today as we incorporate social networking apps for business purposes, to keep up with family and friends, and to celebrate our accomplishments and achievements. The dangers of being on social media have proven to sometimes have a negative effect on many people for various different reasons.
There are dangers that are associated with some people’s needs to have posts liked and to gain followers and the pressure felt when expectations are great and not met. This sometimes may lead to depression and other bouts that contribute to mental health issues due to the anticipation not being met when posting on social media. Due to this line of thinking, according to Business Insider, a Black actor, Blondy Baruti, decided to launch an app that would give “power to the users.”
Baruti, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and has played an alien villain, Huhtar, in the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2, had taken much of the money he earned from acting and writing a book, The Incredible True Story of Blondy Baruti: My Unlikely Journey from the Congo to Hollywood, to help build the social media app BePerk. His goal was to give control of the app to the users.
“I thought, I won’t be able to stop all of this, but I can at least try to slow it down or minimize it by creating something in social media that will be focused on giving the power to the users,” Baruti told Business Insider.
The actor emphasizes that the users of BePerk get to decide how long others can see their content. That could be as simple as a few seconds. The users also have the choice to allow information about how many followers each person has or how many views a post gets or it can just be set to private.
Baruti tells 6 ABC, “I believe we’re living in a world where we have less control of our lives and less control over our social media. Social media is bringing a lot of depression, anxiety, and a lot of judging. The upcoming generation is basing their lives on how they look on social media.”
Naughty By Nature’s Vin Rock Wants to ‘Return the Wealth to the Community’ With Money Avenue
If you are an older hip-hop fan and recognize the anthems of “Hip-Hop Hooray”, “OPP,” and “Uptown Anthem,” then you are very familiar with rappers Treach (Nee Anthony Criss), Vin Rock (real name Vincent Brown), and DJ/producer Kay Gee (Keir Lamont Gist)–the members of Naughty By Nature.
You may also remember the group had its own fashion line and merchandise, headed by Vin Rock. Treach was known as the frontman and lyrical terrorist of the group; Kay Gee was the mastermind of the production and had the turntable skills. While Vin Rock handled the microphone, he was more known for his business acumen.
That’s still the case. According to AfroTech, Vin Rock has partnered with a financial expert, Donahue Baker, to start a financial company named Money Avenue.
Money Avenue is a completely Black-owned digital financial services platform that provides services such as residential mortgage, investment, personal finance, and life insurance nationwide.
“One of the things I hope to accomplish with my role as community outreach officer for Money Avenue is to reach people that other people—other investment firms—don’t reach, or won’t reach,” Vin Rock told AfroTech. “That’s one of our unique value propositions—to provide access to capital to people who otherwise wouldn’t have it.”
“People need to understand that we’re not VCs,” Baker added. “We’re here to help people like the underbanked and the unbanked get education about such things as non-predatory lending. Things like, not putting up a personal guarantee when you’re agreeing to a loan. Things that most people don’t think about when they’re ‘underbanked’ or not used to a professional environment.”
“It’s time to return the wealth to where it belongs: to the community,” Vin Rock said. “The only way we’re going to return the wealth to the community is to take it back.”
