Before May 13, David T. Hines’s corporate bank account was in the red by more than $30,000. But after the 29-year-old Florida…
Before May 13, David T. Hines’s corporate bank account was in the red by more than $30,000. But after the 29-year-old Florida man nabbed a nearly $4 million loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), his fortunes quickly changed.
In fact, just one week after getting money from the fund meant to bailout businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Hines was cruising around Miami Beach, Fla., in a new blue Lamborghini Huracán Evo, which cost more than $318,000.
Now, federal prosecutors say that Hines illegally used hundreds of thousands of dollars in PPP loans meant for his moving companies to buy the car as well as a host of personal expenses, including shopping sprees and high-end hotel stays, instead of covering his companies’ payroll. The Justice Department announced Monday that he was arrested and charged with making false statements to a lending institution, bank fraud, and engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds, officials said.
“Collectively, Hines falsely claimed his companies paid millions of dollars in payroll in the first quarter of 2020,” Bryan Masmela, a U. S. Postal inspector, said in an affidavit. “State and bank records, however, show little to no payroll expense during this period.”
“David is a legitimate business owner who, like millions of Americans, suffered financially during the Pandemic,” said Chad Piotrowski, Hines’s attorney, in a statement to The Washington Post.
