houston — A Houston man accused of going on a shopping spree after receiving more than $1.6 million from the Small Business Association’s Paycheck Protection Program has been sentenced to 110 months in prison, the US Justice Department announced Monday.
According to court documents, 30-year-old Lee Price III pleaded guilty in September to charges of wire fraud and money laundering, submitting fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of three businesses to two different lenders: 713 Construction LLC, Price Enterprises Holdings. LLC, and Price Logistics Services LLC.
Through these loan applications, Price sought over $2.6 million and actually received over $1.6 million in PPP loan funding. Court documents state that Price falsely reported the number of employees and payroll expenses in each of the PPP loan applications.
According to the official criminal complaint against Price, he almost immediately began spending that PPP money on incredibly lavish items, including a $233,000 Lamborghini Urus, an $85,000 Ford F-350 pickup truck and a $14,000 Rolex. Huh.
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Prosecutors say he spent thousands of dollars in Houston nightclubs and strip clubs, and more than $100,000 to lease office space in Memorial City.
Court documents state that the Justice Department, along with law enforcement partners, fraudulently obtained more than $700,000 in funds.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal Justice Department resources in partnership with agencies across the government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud .
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