Release of PPP loan recipients data reveals troubling patterns
The Trump Organization and Kushner Companies are major beneficiaries of PPP loans.
Dec. 2, 2020, 12:38 AM EST
By Ben Popken and Andrew W. Lehren
Following months of litigation between the Small Business Administration and news organizations seeking data about who benefited from pandemic relief programs, the agency on Tuesday night released a sweeping dataset of every small business that received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) loan.
The data reveals the most complete accounting to date of the more than $700 billion in forgivable loans Congress and the Trump administration introduced in the spring for allowable expenses, including payroll, rent, utilities, and mortgage interest payments.
An initial analysis by NBC News, one of 11 newsrooms that sued for the data’s release, raised questions about the equitability and distribution of the loans. Properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner’s family at the Kushner Companies profited from the program. The data shows:
Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all.
The loans to Trump and Kushner properties included a $2,164,543 loan to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp., located at Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City. The company reported the money didn’t go to keeping any jobs. It later closed.
A company called LB City Inc, which is located at Kushner’s Bungalow Hotel in Long Branch, New Jersey, received a loan for $505,552.50 that it used to keep 155 jobs.
Two tenants at 725 5th Avenue, Trump Tower, received more than $100,000 and only kept three jobs.
Four tenants at the Kushner-owned 666 5th Avenue combined received more than $204,000, and only retained 6 jobs.
more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/release-ppp-loan-recipients-data-reveals-troubling-patterns-n1249629?cid=eml_nbn_20201202
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