The Justice Department issued the following statement.
A Starkville man was arrested Thursday by FBI Special Agents after being indicted by a federal grand jury on criminal charges related to his alleged fraud scheme exceeding $6 million in federal COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program loans.
According to court documents, Christopher Paul Lick, 45, of Starkville devised a scheme to defraud, and to obtain PPP funds, by filing false and fraudulent loan applications with banks providing loans as part of the Paycheck Protection Program, including Customers Bank and Cross River Bank. Lick is alleged to have overstated the number of employees and payroll expenses of his purported businesses to receive the funds.
Rather than use the PPP funds for his businesses, Lick is alleged to have purchased a variety of luxury items for personal use, including a home valued at more than $1 million and a Tesla valued at nearly $100,000. Lick also is alleged to have used the PPP funds to invest in the stock market.
Lick is charged with four counts of wire fraud, one count of false statements to a financial institution, and eleven counts of money laundering. He is scheduled for an initial court appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge David A. Sanders of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in federal prison.
The FBI’s Oxford Resident Agency is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Levy is prosecuting the case.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
20 comments:
You can buy anything you want until it catches up with you and you go and buy a f'ing electric Tesla.
He won’t be the last.
What an idiot. You never buy the luxury goods directly with the PPP funds. You convert it all directly into crypto and then spend the crypto.
Wow , that was a fast indictment!
Frist round of PPP money has only been out for a
little over a year.
Always seems like this stuff is discovered and indictments
handed down several years down the road
I never understand why these people steal millions and stick around. Buy 6 million in bitcoin and head to Belize.
It amazes me how people think their smarter than the state and federal government. I miss twenty dollars on last year’s taxes and they’ll audit my ass till the cows come home. And yet this genius thought he could pilfer 6 million. I doubt he will do much time hell they let armed robbery and murder suspects walk.
This may be more common than one might think. My sister and her husband have a business in Madison county. They had 10 employees before COVID. I saw on the PPP list published by the C-L that they got nearly $150,000 for 18 employees.
@3:49
He was cruising around Starkville flaunting his wealth and picking up college teens.
Looking forward, as is always the case, to a guilty plea of one count of wire fraud. Then the feds let it all slide.
Tell it 4:47. Shad White would hire you tomorrow. Right is right and wrong is wrong. I like it.
@3:49 He’ll need one of those duallys, not a Tesla, if he’s picking up those State girls.
743 employees for a small Mississippi candle company might be what gave him away..jus saying..
Facing 30 years. Most likely, he’ll do anywhere between 5 to 10.
A million dollar house in Starkville? Must be upwind of the cow pastures.
What business does Christopher Paul Lick own in Starkville? None of the articles say.
I received my PPP forgivable loan (I bet ‘Fish did also). I also have documents showing I paid social security, federal and state taxes on the income on which the loan is based that far exceeds the amount of my PPP. When looking through the database, I have trouble believing the number of people qualified for the maximum ($20,833 for sole proprietorship with no employees) for caterer, hair salon, barber, landscaper, etc. I’m sure many are legitimate, but I’d say many are not. Just because someone shows a Schedule C to the lender, doesn’t mean the Schedule C was filed with the IRS. I bet the federal government won’t even bother auditing such “small” loans.
tip of the iceberg-
@8:42 google "Chris Lick candle"
Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered.
He would have had more if he hadn't scammed such a large sum of money. If he used the PPP fund for his small businesses, he could reap other successes. Sorry for him.
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