Photo courtesy of the Miami Herald.
Valesky Barosy was arrested in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. after he allegedly used loans from the Paycheck Protection Program to buy expensive items, including a Lamborghini Huracán EVO.
According to the Department of Justice, Barosy applied for more than $4 million in PPP loans for himself and his accomplices. The 27-year-old also allegedly bought expensive luxury watches from Hublot and Rolex, and designer clothes from Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
Barosy received more than $2 million from the COVID-19 relief program and now faces up to 132 years in prison. During his Dec. 29 federal court appearance in Fort Lauderdale, Barosy was charged with three counts of money laundering, one count of aggravated identity theft and five counts of wire fraud.
It’s unclear how successful Barosy was before receiving the loans, but he posted his story on Instagram in 2018. He claimed to be the youngest Regional Vice President in a successful company with 2000 employees who traveled the world wearing custom-made suits.
“Started from the bottom now we here. I remember 4 years ago when I got started in the industry at the age of 19 i knew anything about business I used to work overnight at Walmart as a stocker,” wrote Barosy. “I was brand new in the country barely spoke English, I couldn’t afford shirt from Walmart to go to meetings and I didnt let that be my excuse not to get started I Use it as a motivation and now 4 years from now we are the youngest Regional Vice President in the entire company producing over 250k in business with Over 2000 people within my organization, able to help my family , traveling the world and afford custom made suit and designers. I am the true example of that saying:You don’t have to be great to get started, get started to be great!!!#successleavesclues #workhardplayharder #mlmsuccess #customeclothes #suitandtie #chamginglives #rvp.”
In a questionable move, Barosy posted pictures of his newly-found luxury lifestyle on his business Instagram account and gained 110,00 followers. The account was set to private following Barosy’s arrest.
Barosy also claimed in a press release to have moved to the U.S. from Haiti nearly a decade ago. He claimed to have gone from a Walmart employee to a successful financial advisor earning millions.
The authorities believe that Barosy made up expense reports from previous years as well as payroll, net profit and tax documents. He submitted the documents to the IRS in order to receive the PPP loans totaling $2.1 million.
Barosy is currently being held in a federal detention center.