Project on Government Oversight: Pandemic Swindle: Feds Botched Review of Billions in Suspect PPP Loans
“The Small Business Administration (SBA) flagged nearly 2.3 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans worth at least $189 billion — about a quarter of the roughly $800 billion lent out — for further review between August 2020 and September 2021, according to a massive dataset obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. There are 4.3 million flags signifying concerns that loans were potentially fraudulent, the recipient was possibly ineligible, or the loans in question merited closer examination for some other reason. There is an average of 1.9 flags for each of the loans identified for scrutiny.
The SBA has forgiven 95% of all PPP loan dollars as of this month. That means a substantial number of loans flagged as potentially going to fraudsters or ineligible recipients have now been forgiven.”
Read the full report, which cites research by Good Jobs First, at POGO.