Another American splurges Covid aid on a Lamborghini
FEDS CHARGE SECOND US MAN WITH MISUSING CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUNDS
ATexas man this week became the second person in less than two weeks to be accused by federal prosecutors of using Covid-19 relief money to buy a Lamborghini.
The man, Lee Price III, 29, of Houston, received more than $1.6 million under the federal Paycheck Protection Programme after he submitted five applications in May and June with fraudulent information to numerous banks claiming to employ dozens of people, prosecutors in Houston said Tuesday.
In response to two of those applications, a pair of banks that officials did not identify deposited money into bank accounts controlled by Price, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Texas.
Spending spree
With that money, Price went on a lavish spending spree, according to the complaint. On June 26 - the day Price received $937,500 in response to one request - he purchased a $14,000 Rolex watch, the complaint stated. The next day, it said, he bought a 2019 Lamborghini Urus, for $233,337.60.
And over the next three days, he spent more than $700 at a liquor store, around $2,000 at a strip club and more than $2,500 at two Houston nightclubs, according to the complaint.
In response to another application, Price received $752,452, the prosecutors said. That money went toward the purchase of a 2020 Ford F-350 pickup truck and the lease for a luxury apartment Houston.
Price was arrested Tuesday and charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements to financial institutions and engaging in prohibited monetary transactions, the prosecutors said.
A person who answered a telephone number listed for Price immediately hung up Tuesday night. A federal public defender was assigned to represent Price, according to court records. An email message sent to the public defender’s office Tuesday night was not immediately returned.
Last week, prosecutors in Florida arrested and charged David Hines of Miami with three felonies, accusing him of having used Covid-19 relief money to buy a blue Lamborghini Huracan.
His said his client was “a legitimate business owner who, like millions of Americans, suffered financially during the pandemic” and “is anxious to tell his side of the story when the time comes.”
Lee Price received $1.6 million as US Covid-19 relief money. He used it to buy a truck and lease a luxury apartment, apart from buying the super car.