Houston man who used COVID relief money on Lamborghini, strip clubs gets more than 9 years in prison

HOUSTON — A Houston man has been sentenced to more than nine years in prison after pleading guilty in a case in which prosecutors said he used federal COVID-19 relief money on a Lamborghini Urus, a Rolex watch and trips to strip clubs.

Lee Price III, 30, was handed the 110-months sentence after pleading guilty in September to wire fraud and money laundering.

Prosecutors had accused Price of fraudulently using more than $1.6 million in funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, which gave low-interest loans to small businesses struggling during the pandemic.

They said Price also used the money to buy an $85,000 Ford F-350 pickup truck and to pay off a loan on a residential property.

According to court records, he used phony businesses to get the coronavirus relief money, and authorities have recovered about $700,000 of the money.

“Mr. Price hopes that others will learn from his reckoning that there is no easy money,” Price’s lawyer Tom Berg said. “He has the balance of the 110-month sentence to reflect, repent and rebuild his misspent life.”