Jamie Dupree

Feds charge second man with spending COVID relief on Lamborghini

First it was a 29 year-old man in Florida charged last week with diverting Coronavirus relief money from the federal government to buy a Lamborghini sports car. Now, a 29 year-old man from Houston, Texas has charged by prosecutors with doing the same thing.


The Justice Department announced Tuesday that Lee Price III was arrested and charged with submitting fraudulent loan applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, and then using that money on 'luxury items, real estate, and personal entertainment.'


“Price allegedly used the loan proceeds not for payroll expenses, but for lavish personal purchases, such as expending the loan money on a Lamborghini Urus, a Rolex watch and real estate transactions,” read a press release announcing the arrest.


“He also allegedly spent thousands at strip clubs and other Houston night clubs,” federal prosecutors added.


Prosecutors claimed Price wrongly used $1.6 million in federal money from two PPP loans, money which was intended to preserve jobs endangered by the Coronavirus outbreak.


The charges and details echoed a case unsealed last week, in which David Hines of Miami, Florida was charged with wrongly using some of $3.9 million in PPP loans.


The Justice Department said “within days of receiving the PPP funds, Hines purchased a 2020 Lamborghini Huracan sports car for approximately $318,000, which he registered jointly in his name and the name of one of his companies.”

Price was scheduled to make an initial appearance in a Houston federal court on Tuesday.

Jamie Dupree

Jamie Dupree, CMG Washington News Bureau

Radio News Director of the Washington Bureau