Mississippi man convicted of stealing $6M in Payroll Protection Program funds

Christopher Lick, 46, owned a Columbus candle shop that employed seven people. But when he applied for more than $6 million in federal Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans, he said he employed more than 700.

"This is an astronomical amount of money. And not one penny of it was used for payroll," Senior U.S. District Court Judge Glen Davidson said at Lick's Aug. 12 sentencing.

Lick used the ill-gotten gains to buy a million-dollar house formerly owned by a Mississippi State head football coach. The property, located just south of Starkville, included a guest house/entertainment area larger than most personal homes, a full-size basketball court and a tree house that was air conditioned and had a half-bath. He also purchased a $100,000 Tesla and played the stock market with $2.5 million in taxpayer funds.

"I would like to apologize to the court, my friends and my family for my poor decision," Lick said to the judge. "I am tremendously sorrowful for it. I accept whatever sentence you deem appropriate."

Lick claimed his candle company struggled after a New York company refused to pay a $1.7 million invoice. He said the company sent a non-refrigerated truck to pick up the candles in the summer. The merchandise melted and the company reneged.

Judge Davidson said the story seemed "absurd and far-fetched" that a company with annual sales of $20 million would first, spend 10% of their budget on candles and second, not take precautions.

Lick said he approached the Small Business Administration for a loan and was declined. He was then advised to get a PPP loan.

In a written statement to the court, Lick said he was advised to apply for multiple loans that would cover his losses threefold.

Under direct questioning from the judge, Lick could not name who told him to apply for the PPP loans or who advised him to apply for multiple loans. Former FBI special agent John Quaka — now Tupelo's chief of police — testified that during the investigation, Lick never said he was instructed to get a PPP loans or that he was advised to get multiple loans.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Levy said Lick had the opportunity to pay back the loans and make a substantial profit at the same time, but he did not. Levy said Lick put around $2.5 million of the loan money into an investment account and began playing the stock market.

"He made approximately $10 million in GameStop shares. He had the opportunity to repay the loans and make about $4 million," Levy said.

By the time federal authorities were notified of the fraud, the GameStop bubble had burst and most of the $10 million was gone.

The government seized the house, the car, several bank accounts (more than $31,000 in cash) and the investment account.

"We were able to make a very significant monetary seizure, but it doesn't completely make up the ($6,050,463 in restitution) amount owed," Levy said.

When arrested in May 2021, Lick originally faced a 16-count indictment for wire fraud and money laundering. He could have faced up to 30 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine for each count of wire fraud plus up to 10 years per count for money laundering.

By pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud, the government agreed to dismiss the other 15 counts.

___

(c)2022 the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.)

Visit the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.) at www.djournal.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.