You have heard outrageous stories before. But this one will blow your mind away. A man from the US made a fraudulent claim of $1.6 million (Rs 12 crore) as a coronavirus relief loan and used that money to buy a Lamborghini sports car and other luxury items like a Rolex watch. Lee Price III borrowed a large sum of money from the US government by stating he would need the funds for his business. However, he used it to his advantage and ended up spending the money on a series of luxury purchases that also included a Lamborghini.
The 30-year-old received all the money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP, something that was passed by Congress last year to support people and businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. To acquire the funds, he submitted various PPP applications to different banks. While many denied him the loan, some approved the applications. One of the applications said he owned a company named Price Enterprises that had over 50 employees with an average monthly payroll of $3,75,000.
In one of the applications, he stated that he owned a company named Price Enterprises that had over 50 employees with an average monthly payroll of $3,75,000. Lee’s fraud was exposed during an inspection which revealed his ‘businesses’ had no recorded employees or revenue. He was sentenced to 110 months in prison for money laundering and wire fraud, the US Justice Department said.
According to court documents, Lee spent the money on a Rolex watch, a Lamborghini Urus, and Ford F-350 among other acquisitions. Officials have recovered more than $7,00,000 of the loan amount Lee had received.