The Federal government has launched the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in March 2020 to help the small businesses and charities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there were 226 labor unions that were ineligible for the program received $36.7 million in forgivable loans.
According to the reports, 226 forgivable loans were handed out since only 501 Nonprofits were registered and were the only ones eligible for the PPP.
In addition, those who submitted false information in order to be listed in PPP may face a sentence to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine and it may jump to 30 years of imprisonment and a $1,000,000 fine if the loan was distributed through a federally insured institution.
The report stated, which was first obtained by The Washington Free Beacon:
“Disconcertingly, the apparently inappropriate PPP loans may have been granted due to fraudulent loan applications or other questionable conduct by applicants or the private lenders operating under the SBA’s delegated authority to approve loan applications. Appropriate federal authorities, including at least the SBA and the Department of Justice, should investigate the matter further and take appropriate actions to recover funds improperly paid and prosecute any fraudulent activity committed.”
DailyWire provided more details:
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has waved away $790 billion in small business and nonprofit PPP loans that were tasked with showing how the money would be used to keep staff during COVID-19. People who knowingly submit a false statement to get an SBA loan could face a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison. Moreover, if the loan is handed out through a federally insured institution, the fine could jump to $1 million and up to 30 years in prison.
There also appears to be some contradiction in the payouts. Unions that received loans were some of the most vocal in support of coronavirus lockdowns.
The Michigan Education Association raked in more than $6.4 million — the highest PPP loan for a union —and supported Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in April 2020 when she halted K-12 in-person learning. Similarly, the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association took in more than $107,000 and advocated for lockdowns in March 2020.
In July 2020, Trump administration officials notified SBA that labor unions unjustly received funding through PPP, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveal. In March 2021, with President Joe Biden now in office, unions were green-lit for relief under the American Rescue Plan. Two months later, however, applications closed.
About 80 percent of the unions that received PPP loans in 2020 were registered as a 501(c)(5), which is the typical tax status of labor unions. The rest were given to union-affiliated organizations registered as other ineligible tax statuses, or do not appear to have a public tax status.
Sources: Daily Wire, Free Beacon