The long arm of the law may ignore you for some time, but you can’t escape it no matter how smart you think you are. This too-smart-for-his-own-good Texas man got a good taste of judgment after he fraudulently got $1.6 million in coronavirus relief loans. Not only did he manage to receive a massive amount, but he also spent most of it living each day as his last and buying everything on his bucket list. His magnanimous shopping list included a Lamborghini, a Ford F-350 pickup truck, a Rolex watch, and even strippers.
The man applied for a $2.6 million loan under the Paycheck Protection Program. Lee Price III, 30, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in September, and his holiday ended with a sentence of nine years in prison. The Guardian shared, In March 2020, then President Donald Trump signed a $2tn emergency relief and spending bill to aid the economic stresses caused. Since then, the DoJ has sued more than 150 defendants in more than 95 cases for attempts to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Florida Instagram influencer Danielle Miller also applied for a COVID-19 relief loan with fraudulent credentials earlier this year. She used her $102,000 loan for a private flight from Florida to California and at the luxury hotel Petit Ermitage. Price too emulated this behavior by submitting multiple fraudulent PPP loan applications with banks across the US and on behalf of three entities. His extravagant expenses include a $233,000 2019 Lamborghini Urus, an $85,000 Ford F-350 pickup truck, a stunning $14,000 Rolex watch that he will dearly miss, and another $2,000 on a trip to a Houston strip club.
The experience and memories are the only things left with Price as the DoJ and law enforcement partners seized more than $700,000 of the funds. Price’s attorney Tom Berg said in an email to the Washington Post, ‘Mr. Price hopes that others will learn from his reckoning that there is no easy money. He has the balance of the 110-month sentence to reflect, repent and rebuild his misspent life.’
[Via: The Guardian]
