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ProfilePerson

Everett Sands

Executive

PPP · Other programs
Type
Person
Role
Executive
Programs
PPP, Other programs
Updated

The profile

Founder and CEO of Lendistry (B.S.D. Capital, Inc.), a CDFI lender that originated 206,724 PPP loans and later administered state relief-grant programs, including California's and New York's.

Identity and role

Everett K. Sands is the founder and CEO of Lendistry (legally B.S.D. Capital dba Lendistry), a minority-led, technology-enabled Community Development Financial Institution headquartered in Brea, California. Lendistry described itself in April 2022 as the only African American-led SBA Small Business Lending Company (GlobeNewswire release); the "largest Black-led CDFI fintech lender", Preferred Lender and Opportunity Zone lines are not in any copy we have.

Biography

Sands is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (the degree is not specified) and a native of Washington, D.C. (Penn IUR biography). Before founding Lendistry he held senior and board roles at minority depository institutions and then worked at Wells Fargo, where, by his Penn Institute for Urban Research biography, he grew a Washington-based team's market share from 6% to 26% in a single year and was promoted to Orange County, where he grew an origination team from $150 million to $490 million a year. He has closed over $3 billion in transactions across his career and works in structured finance and real estate as a partner in Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate.

He founded Lendistry (company About page). By his own account, he started it when he saw capital becoming less accessible and more expensive for small businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and rural residents, and recruited a team of fellow bankers to build a lender aimed at them.

The company and its PPP/EIDL role

Lendistry is a CDFI (Goldman Sachs release) and a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (Penn IUR biography). Goldman Sachs funded its PPP lending in April 2020 (GlobeNewswire release) and East West Bank extended a $75 million credit facility in October 2025 (Newswire release); the $85 million 2022 debt offering, City National and Starbucks investments are cited to no source we have a copy of.

Per SBA loan-level data, Lendistry originated 206,724 PPP loans worth $4.00 billion and collected about $0.52 billion in lender processing fees; its PPP Liquidity Facility peak outstanding was about $0.48 billion. It ran Goldman-backed city PPP funds in Philadelphia and Baltimore (GlobeNewswire release).

The relief administrator

After PPP, governments hired Lendistry to administer relief-grant programs.

  • California. CalOSBA selected Lendistry as the administrator of the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program (state grants portal capture). Lendistry announced administration of an additional $1.5 billion in September 2021, bringing the program to roughly $4 billion in grants of $5,000 to $25,000. It hosted the portal, validated applications, requested documents and bank information, made payments, and consulted with the state on selection priorities.
  • New York. Lendistry administered the $800 million New York State COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program (PR Newswire release); the separate $100 million New York City grant line is not in any copy we have.
  • Pennsylvania. It administered roughly $280 million in state COVID-19 relief grants.
  • Federal. The SBA selected Lendistry as an exclusive community partner to help deploy the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund under the American Rescue Plan, to reach restaurants without existing point-of-sale-vendor relationships and underserved owners.

Their own relief

No PPP or EIDL loan to Sands personally is established in the public record. Lendistry's role across these programs was as lender of record and grant administrator, not as a borrower of relief.

Lendistry was not among the lenders the SBA investigated. The December 2022 House subcommittee report and the SBA's follow-on review named Benworth, Capital Plus, Celtic, Customers, Cross River, Fountainhead, Harvest, and Prestamos. The SBA suspended Womply and Blueacorn on December 8, 2022.

No DOJ case, SBA OIG finding, or regulatory enforcement action against Lendistry or Sands was found.

One data-privacy class action — allegations, denied, now back in state court. On October 28, 2024 a Los Angeles accounting firm, Onisko & Scholz, LLP, with named plaintiffs Paul Scholz and Cindy Schoelen, sued Lendistry's operating entity (Onisko & Scholz, LLP v. B.S.D. Capital, Inc. dba Lendistry, L.A. Superior Court No. 24STCV28081) over its administration of California's Small Business and Nonprofit COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Relief Grant program. The program ran under an April 25, 2023 contract with the Governor's Office. The putative class complaint alleges that Lendistry's application site let a third-party bank-verification partner (Plaid) intercept and mine applicants' bank data without consent and used an AI "customer experience" tool (Qualified) that eavesdropped on communications, in violation of California's Comprehensive Data Access and Fraud Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act. These are unproven allegations; Lendistry calls them "baseless" and denies them. Lendistry removed the case to the Central District of California (2:24-cv-10314), but the court granted the plaintiffs' motion to remand on June 24, 2025 and, on October 27, 2025, awarded the plaintiffs $26,520 in fees for the improper removal under 28 U.S.C. §1447(c). The merits proceed in state court; no liability finding exists. A separate False Claims Act qui tam, U.S. ex rel. Integra Research Group LLC v. B.S.D. Capital, Inc. d/b/a Lendistry, No. 1:24-cv-12753-WGY (D. Mass.), was filed under seal on October 30, 2024 (Complaint, ECF 1) and dismissed without prejudice on July 3, 2025 (Order, ECF 10), after the relator's notice of voluntary dismissal (ECF 8) and the United States' consent to it (ECF 9), with no government intervention.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

Sands remains founder and CEO of Lendistry (company About page). The company's "No. 2 nonbank SBA 7(a) lender", "$10 billion across 640,000 businesses", Home Loans, Starbucks and wildfire-fund lines are cited to its website but are not in our copy; the $75 million East West Bank facility (October 2025) is (Newswire release). Sands was named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year for Greater Los Angeles in 2024 and an LA500 honoree in 2025, and sits on the Penn Institute for Urban Research advisory board and the boards of Goodwill of Orange County and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Sands has testified before House committees, including a Financial Services subcommittee on February 4, 2021 (hearing transcript) and the Small Business Committee on January 18, 2024 (written testimony).

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Original source documents and archived captures

Sources

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