Preston Fleming, a 68-year-old resident of Dacula, Georgia, was sentenced to six months of home confinement for his involvement in a fraudulent scheme that netted him over $170,000 in COVID-19 disaster relief funds. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court, as announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
According to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Fleming manipulated the loan application process by falsely claiming that his trucking company, Fleming Transport Services, Inc. (FTS), was operational at the onset of the pandemic, despite having ceased operations years earlier. He misrepresented how the funds would be used, ultimately diverting the money to personal expenses, including purchasing land and building a new home.
Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on April 17, 2026. In addition to home confinement, he was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to repay the full amount of the fraudulently obtained funds. Prosecutors had initially sought a prison term, highlighting the severity of the offense.
Between April 2020 and June 2021, Fleming submitted multiple fraudulent loan applications to the Small Business Administration, falsely certifying that he would use the funds for payroll and other operational costs. The SBA approved approximately $172,500 in loans based on these misrepresentations. In August 2021, he even applied for loan forgiveness, again providing false information that led to the complete forgiveness of a $12,994 Paycheck Protection Program loan.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General, with prosecution led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nickolas Reck and Trial Attorneys Alexandre Dempsey and Aaron Jennen from the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. The case underscores the ongoing efforts to combat fraud against federal relief programs during the pandemic.
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