A Texas man was sentenced Monday to 9 years in prison after it was discovered that he created shell companies to apply for the financial aid program for the coronavirus pandemic and spent the money received on luxuries and excesses.
In June 2020, 30-year-old Lee Price III
received nearly $ 1 million in support
to continue his purported businesses, but spent it in a matter of days.
The money that was destined for the supposed employees of one of his fictitious companies, Price Enterprises, served the scammer to buy a Rolex watch for $ 14,000, a 2019 Lamborghini Urus for about $ 233,000 and for a night in a club strip show in Houston that he spent $ 2,000 on, The Washington Post reports.
Price has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering.
This is the car the man bought himself with financial aid.Vincent Thian / AP
"Mr. Price hopes that others will learn from this fact that
there is no easy money
," Tom Berg, his lawyer, told the aforementioned newspaper.
"He has the remainder of the 110-month sentence to reflect, repent and rebuild his life," he added.
In March 2020, during the onset of the pandemic, a $ 2 trillion coronavirus aid package was approved, created for companies to cover expenses such as paying staff and rent.
Taking advantage
of the fact
that
many of the loans were forgivable
, Price began sending his requests for help to various banks in the United States in May 2020.
A Boston bank approved his request and gave him $ 937,500 to cover the salaries of the non-existent 50 employees at his business.
["OMG, OMG I think this is a scam." This is how they trick us through cell phone messages to steal money and information]
Investigators later discovered that such a company did not exist and that it did not report any income to the state.
According to the complaint, another California lender approved Lee a loan of $ 752,452 after he filed an application with a company of another name,
whose CEO was a dead man
.
But Lee has not been the only one who has taken advantage of federal aid.
[How can immigrants spot a scam and avoid fraud? A lawyer explains]
The Justice Department has charged more than 150 people with fraud and seized more than $ 75 million illegally obtained, according to authorities.
