A man from Houston, Texas was handed more than nine years in prison for fraudulently receiving over $1.6 million in pandemic relief money from the government and blowing it on a life of luxury and leisure.
Lee Price III was sentenced to 110 months in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
<blockquote>
<span><strong>Read more</strong></span>
<figure>
<img src="https://cdni.rt.com/files/2021.04/thumbnail/606af18285f540036c514194.jpg" alt="Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, UK. © Belvoircastle / Instagram" />
<figcaption><a href="/uk/520138-aristocrats-claim-job-retention/">50 UK aristocrats, some owning castles, applied for taxpayer-funded scheme aimed at saving businesses amid lockdown – media</a></figcaption>
</figure>
</blockquote>
According to prosecutors, starting from May 2020, Price had been using fake companies to apply for low-interest loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The money was meant to help small businesses struggling during the pandemic.
In an application submitted to a bank in Boston, Price claimed he owned a company called Price Enterprises with 50 employees and an average monthly payroll of $375,000. In an application to a California lender, he listed a dead man as the chief executive of a different company.
Price used the funds to buy a $233,000 Lamborghini Urus SUV, a $85,000 Ford F-350 pickup truck, and a $14,000 Rolex watch. He blew around $2,000 at a strip club, and spent large sums at liquor stores and nightclubs. The money also was used to pay off a loan on a residential property.
Police recovered around $700,000 of the funds Price received through PPP.
“Mr. Price hopes that others will learn from his reckoning that there is no easy money,” Price’s lawyer, Tom Berg, said in a statement to the media. “He has the balance of the 110-month sentence to reflect, repent and rebuild his misspent life.”
https://ift.tt/3I9ifNN 01, 2021 at 02:42PM
from RT – Daily news