Florida Man Used $4 Million in Coronavirus Relief to Buy Lamborghini, Officials Say

A man in Florida lied to get nearly $4 million in coronavirus relief funds and spent the money on a new $318,000 Lamborghini sports car and other luxury items, according to officials.

The crime: David T. Hines, 29, a Miami businessman, was arrested on Friday and charged on Monday with three felonies, prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida said.

Hines's alleged fraud was discovered only after he was involved in a hit-and-run accident while driving the Lamborghini Huracan Evo on July 11, the Miami Herald reported.

  • His other purchases uncovered by prosecutors included expensive jewelry and clothes, visits to resorts in Miami Beach and expenses on dating websites.
  • He sent $30,000 to a person listed as "Mom."

The alleged scheme: Hines received the federal funds as forgivable business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, which Congress created in April to help businesses keep their employees during the coronavirus pandemic.

  • On his applications, Hines said he operated four businesses with 70 employees and $4 million in monthly expenses.
  • He submitted requests for funds totaling more than $13.5 million.

In reality, prosecutors said, Hines' businesses together had revenue and payroll expenses of that averaged about $200,000 a month.

  • If convicted on all three charges — for bank fraud, engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds and making a false statement to a lending institution — Hines could face up to 70 years in prison, an official in the prosecutor’s office told The New York Times.

Big spending: While PPP, a $660 billion small-business relief program, has benefitted hundreds of thousands of U.S. companies, Hines has not been the only example of potential abuse of the program.

Several other businessmen have been charged in recent weeks with defrauding PPP for millions of dollars each.

  • One Los Angeles man is believed to have bilked the program of approximately $9 million and blown hundreds of thousands of dollars at Los Vegas casinos, federal prosecutors said.
  • PPP, a $660 billion small-business relief program funded as part of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, has also given loans to companies owned by members of Congress, politically connected Americans and foreigners as well as to large, well-financed chains, like P.F. Changs.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats this week started negotiating a new coronavirus relief bill that would extend PPP.

  • But, with the 2020 election looming, many Republican senators have rediscovered their inner budget hawk and objected to another round of massive federal spending.
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, on Tuesday said getting half the Senate to support their leadership's opening bid, the $1 trillion HEALS Act unveiled on Monday, would be "quite an accomplishment."
  • Libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky compared his fellow Republicans to profligate "Bernie bros" as he left a negotiating session over the bill on Tuesday.
  • The HEALS Act would provide an additional $190 billion in PPP funding.
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