Texas man gets 9 years for using Payment Protection Program loans for Lamborghini and Rolex

A Texas man has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison after he used two Payment Protection Program loans to buy a Lamborghini and a Rolex.

Houston resident Lee Price III, 30, also used the money from the loans, which he acquired with false information on the application, to pay off a separate home loan and make other large purchases.

According to the Department of Justice, Price filled two applications with two different lenders seeking $2.6 million and ultimately received $1.6 million.

On one of the applications, Price asked for $752,452 for a construction company to meet payroll despite the company having no employees. The application was also filed on behalf of an Ohio resident who had died before the date it was submitted. Price submitted a fake driver’s license and fake tax records as part of the application.

Less than three weeks after he received that loan money in May 2020, Price bought a 2020 Ford F-350 for $85,000 from a Houston car dealership.

One the second application, Price asked for $937,500 for a second company’s payroll but, again, that company did not have payroll obligations or employees. He also did not disclose on the loan he was facing felony charges of tampering with a government record in Texas.

Three days after Price received that money in June 2020, he bought a $14,343.13 Rolex watch. A day later he used $233,337.60 to buy a 2019 Lamborghini Urus.

The Justice Department said it confiscated the cars and the watch as well as more than $700,000 of the money Price fraudulently obtained.

So far, 474 other people have been charged with crimes related the misuse of money from the U.S.’ COVID-19 relief programs, the DOJ said earlier in 2021. More than $500 million dollars worth of fraud has been committed, according to records.