PPP loans went to Trump companies, report says

Companies and properties that are owned by President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner received millions in PPP loans

An initial analysis has revealed that companies belonging to President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is also his senior advisor, benefited greatly from PPP loans set aside for small businesses struggling because of the pandemic.

The Small Business Administration released data on Tuesday that showed a pattern of Trump companies profiting from the Paycheck Protection Program. NBC News was one of 11 outlets that sued for the data and analyzed it. Their findings showed that $3.65M that accounted for over 25 PPP loans were given to those associated with Trump or Kushner.

Read More: Gas station uses PPP loans to pay for Trump billboards

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Other examples include a $2,164,543 loan that was given to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp., at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City, but no jobs were kept. The company ultimately closed. Other Kushner-owned properties received $505,552.50 and $204,000 but the jobs retained were limited to under 200 and even three in one instance.

The data also revealed that there was gross mismanagement of the funds, including some companies and their subsidiaries receiving $10M which was prohibited. The only exemptions for that amount were for those in the food, hospitality, or hotel industries.

The PPP loan program was created earlier this year to provide financial assistance for businesses that have been hit hard by COVID-19. However, theGrio reported last month that the PPP loan program was inundated with claims of rampant fraud, with individuals collecting millions by making false claims about their small businesses.

Despite the accusations of fraud and the president appearing to benefit from the PPP loans, the SBA insisted in a statement that the program was working as intended.

Jared Kushner thegrio.com
(Photo by Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images)

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“SBA’s historically successful COVID relief loan programs have helped millions of small businesses and tens of millions of American workers when they needed it most,” an SBA spokesman said in a statement accompanying the data’s release.

Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, an accountability watchdog blasted the Trump administration and SBA for not being transparent in their actions.

“Many months and broken promises later, the court-ordered release of this crucial data while the Trump administration is one foot out the door is a shameful dereliction of duty and flagrant mismanagement of a program that millions of workers and small businesses needed to get through this pandemic,” Herrig said in a statement.

Herrig went on to add that it is only now that the SBA is being made to be held accountable for how and where these funds were allocated.

“This administration pulled back the curtains to reveal the malpractice going on behind the scenes,” Herrig said. “Americans deserved an open, transparent small business aid program when this pandemic started, and any new small business relief program must take a lesson from the abject failures of this one.”


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