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Texas Man Sentenced to 9 Years for Using Health Crisis Relief Funds to Buy a Lamborghini

What would you do for a Lamborghini Urus? If it involves fraudulently acquiring money from the state, you could be looking at up to 10 years in the can. A Texas resident went the whole nine yards and bought a Lamborghini, among other valuables with $1.6 million received in PPP loans.
Lee Price III 6 photos
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/ArkLaTex Homepage
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Lee Price III, 30, pleaded guilty in September and was on Monday sentenced to 110 months in prison on money laundering and wire fraud accounts.

The 30-year-old Texas resident received $1.6 million in loans from the U.S Paycheck Protection Program. Congress passed the PPP in March 2020 to assist businesses in the U.S. affected by the international health crisis.

According to the Department of Justice, Price fraudulently acquired $1.6 million in PPP funding. He used the name of a person who had already died while submitting the documents for the loans.

The court documents also indicated that he forged payroll expenses as well as the number of employees in three separate businesses he owned. Based on the investigations, the businesses had no record of employees or payroll.

Price definitely has a good eye for luxury, and If you thought getting a Lamborghini Urus was enough, he went ahead and purchased a Ford F-350 truck and a Rolex watch as well.

Tom Berg, Price’s attorney, said on Monday that his client pleaded guilty without conditions. He added that Mr. Price hopes others can learn from this that there is no easy money.

A 2021 Lamborghini Urus costs about $222,004, while a 2021 Ford F-350 starts at about $35,925. According to officials, the government has recovered more than $700,000.

The U.S Paycheck Protection program is part of the more than $2 trillion CARES Act implemented by Congress to help businesses hurt by the health crisis. In March, the government said about 120 people faced charges of fraud related to the program.

Price’s Attorney in an email to NBC News wrote that his client has a balance of 110 months to reflect, repent and rebuild his life.
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About the author: Humphrey Bwayo
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Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life.
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