A Texas man has been sentenced to nine years in prison after authorities said he fraudulently obtained $1.6 million in coronavirus relief loans and spent it on a Lamborghini and other items.
Lee Price III, 30, pleaded guilty in September to charges of wire fraud and money laundering after submitting fake Paycheck Protection Program loan applications, according to a
press release from the Justice Department .
Price used the money to make personal purchases including a Lamborghini Urus, a 2020 Ford F-250 pickup, a Rolex watch and real estate. He also is believed to have spent thousands of dollars at Houston nightclubs.
According to the release, he falsified documents about the number employees and payroll expenses in each of the loan applications. He also applied for a loan in the name of a person who died before it was submitted.
Authorities said they had recovered $700,000 in loans.
PPP loans were a part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, that Congress passed in March 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Mr. Price hopes that others will learn from his reckoning that there is no easy money," Tom Berg, Price's attorney, said
in an email to NBC News . "He has the balance of the 110-month sentence to reflect, repent and rebuild his misspent life."
