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Jon Taffer, host of “ Bar Rescue, ” during his interview with President Trump and made him engage in four programs to help the restaurant industry.
The federal government has been inundated with reports of potential fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program, a vital lifeline that has helped keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
Congress created the $ 670 billion bailout fund earlier this year with the passage of the CARES Act at the end of March. Over a period of about four months, the program distributed about $ 525 billion in forgivable loans to 5.2 million businesses, saving about 50 million jobs, according to the Small Business Administration.
But according to the Wall Street Journal, the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration said tens of thousands of businesses that received the taxpayer-funded money were not actually eligible.
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The watchdog said it found cases of loans made to businesses started after the pandemic began, businesses that exceed the maximum of 500 employees, and those listed in a federal “Do Not Pay” database because they already owe money. On top of that, tens of thousands of organizations may have received more money than they should have based on their membership and pay rates, according to the Journal.
Several hundred PPP fraud investigations have been opened, including nearly 500 suspects and hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, the report said.
At the height of the program, the SBA approved 514,000 loans in a single day, May 3, according to the Journal.
A spokesperson for the SBA told the Journal that it and the Treasury Department “are committed to working with federal partners to ensure that P3 funds are used according to the intent of the program.” The agencies said they intended to focus their audit on loans over $ 2 million, which is less than 1% – around 29,000 – of total loans and around 20% of total loaned.
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The Justice Department has accused 57 people since May of attempting to steal more than $ 175 million from the PPP. In addition to the 57 cases involving bogus claims, the ministry is investigating other potential cases of fraud, according to Acting Deputy Attorney General Brian Rabbitt.
So far, the government has recovered or frozen more than $ 30 million of the $ 70 million in stolen PPP funds, he said.
“The money these defendants stole was taxpayer money,” Rabbitt said at the time. “Every dollar received was a dollar taken out of the account of the American people. Worse, every dollar they took was a dollar we had set aside to help our fellow Americans weather one of the nation’s worst national crises. recent history. As we state, these defendants tried to steal these funds for themselves. “
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House Democrats warned in a report earlier this year that more than $ 1 billion in emergency funds went to companies that “doubled” and received multiple loans – a violation of program rules.
The rescue program, closed to applicants at the end of July, was open to all companies with fewer than 500 employees per site. As long as 60 p. 100 of the money was used to maintain the payroll, the federal government would forgive it, essentially turning the loan into a subsidy.
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