Federal prosecutors say 30-year-old Lee Price III went on a massive shopping spree that included a $ 200,000 Lamborghini Uras, elaborate pickup truck, and strip golf gear.
HOUSTON – A Houston man who defrauded $ 1.6 million in COVID-19 aid funds is jailed for fraud and money laundering.
A decision sentenced 30-year-old Lee Price III Monday to 110 months – or 9 years and two months – in federal prison.
Price claimed responsibility for wire transfer fraud and money laundering in September.
The video in this story originally aired on August 4th.
Federal prosecutors say Price lied to two completely different financial institutions about the paycheck protection program. One of the reasons for 713 Construction listed a CEO who died a month earlier than it was filed.
RELATED: Houston Man Spent $ 1.6 million in COVID-19 relief fund money on cars and golf equipment, federal agencies say
Price made $ 700,000 for this company and another $ 900,000 for another company, but had no employees, commensurate with the cost.
He spent the money on a $ 200,000 Lamborghini Uras, a Ford F-350 pickup, a Rolex, and various luxury items. The shopping spree also included trips to Houston Strip clubs and nightclubs.
Federal authorities say they confiscated approximately $ 700,000 in items and money from Price, who has an expanded criminal record in Houston that wooed again until 2007 when he was a young man.
The CARES Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to hundreds of thousands of Americans affected by the financial fallout from the pandemic.
Some people and companies that had legitimate needs for the money have complained that they didn’t get it by any means.
Since the CARES Act went into effect, the US Department of Justice’s Fraud Department has prosecuted over 150 defendants on more than 95 instances. They have confiscated over $ 75 million in money on top of some real estate and luxury items bought with such proceeds.
More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/ppp-fraud.
Anyone with details of suspected COVID-19 fraud can report this by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) hotline at 866-720-5721 or using the NCDF web complaint form at https: // www. Justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
