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A Florida man has been charged with bank fraud after lying about loan applications to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic and spend the money he received on luxury items, including a Lamborghini, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by BuzzFeed News .
Federal prosecutors said David Tyler Hines, 29, requested approximately $ 13.5 million in funds from the Check Protection Program, which was established in March to provide loans to small businesses to pay employees during the pandemic. Congress approved $ 349 billion for the first round of PPP loans in March, and more than $ 300 billion for a second round in April.
Hines claimed the funds were intended to pay employees of his businesses, but US postal inspectors said those employees either did not exist or earned only a fraction of the payment he claimed.
Despite this, Hines was approved for nearly $ 4 million in three forgivable, low-interest PPP loans, which he then spent on personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, Miami beach resorts, dating websites, and a Lamborghini Huracán Evo 2020, which cost more than $ 318,000, prosecutors said.
Hines claimed in the requests that he was the manager or president of four separate Miami-based companies, saying he employed 70 people with monthly payroll expenses of $ 4 million, according to the complaint. But investigators said the state of Florida had no record of any wages paid to employees of any of the Hines companies between 2015 and the first quarter of 2020.
The complaint notes that reviews on the Better Business Bureau website were the only online evidence found for Hines’ businesses. Reviews for Promaster Movers, Inc. and We-Pack Moving LLC, which appear to be moving service brokers. Both received F-ratings from BBB, as well as complaints of “bait-and-switch practices” and “misleading activities,” the complaint said.
The complaint stated that Hines “never had the payroll obligations he claimed to have,” and that upon receiving PPP payments into a bank account affiliated with his businesses, “he immediately diverted the proceeds of the loan for unauthorized uses.”
Hines’ biggest expenses in May and June included nearly $ 5,000 spent at Saks Fifth Avenue, $ 8,530 at a jewelry store, more than $ 11,000 at various Miami hotels, and a total of $ 30,000 going to a recipient that prosecutors called ” mother”.
“There appears to be no business purpose for more, if not all, of these expenses,” the complaint said.
Hines ‘lawyer Chad Piotrowski did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment, but told CNN that his client “is a legitimate business owner” who “suffered financially during the pandemic.”
“While the allegations appear to be very serious, especially in light of the pandemic, David is eager to tell his side of the story when the time comes,” added Piotrowski.
Hines faces charges of bank fraud, making a false statement to a loan union, and engaging in illegal profit transactions. Each of the first two charges carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $ 1,000,000 if convicted.
Last week, Hines was filmed by WSVN-TV in Miami, being cited by police for not wearing a face mask in public, for which he was fined $ 100.
While fined, he complained to the station about the distribution of PPP loans.
“All businesses have gone bankrupt,” he said. “The government, the Treasury, gave $ 2 trillion in PPP loans for small businesses. Eighty-five percent went to large corporations.”
Hines was previously arrested in 2018 after reporting that his girlfriend had stolen his Lamborghini, according to NBC Miami.
