Profiles · Reporters
- Type
- Person
- Role
- Reporter
- Programs
- PPP
- Updated
The profile
The May 2021 ProPublica story found 378 PPP loans, about $7 million, to fake farms in implausible places — potato fields in Palm Beach, orange groves in Minnesota — all through Kabbage's online lending platform.
Identity and role
Lydia DePillis is an economy reporter whose public profiles identify past work at ProPublica and later work at The New York Times. She co-authored ProPublica's Kabbage fake-farms investigation with Derek Willis.
Pandemic-relief / PPP-EIDL role
The May 2021 ProPublica story found 378 PPP loans, about $7 million, to fake farms in implausible places (potato fields in Palm Beach, orange groves in Minnesota), all through Kabbage's online lending platform. A month later DePillis and Willis reported that Congress had opened an investigation (we do not have a copy of the June 18, 2021 story).
The fake-farms finding is reporting, not a court finding; the later DOJ and bankruptcy records are covered in the Kabbage profile.
Where they are now (2025–2026)
Her move to The New York Times is cited to LinkedIn (self-reported).
Sources held in this archive
Original source documents and archived captures
- Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis, "Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places," ProPublica, May 18, 2021
- ProPublica hiring announcement, Lydia DePillis
- ProPublica profile, Lydia DePillis
Sources
- Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis, "Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places," ProPublica, May 18, 2021 (378 loans / ~$7M, all via Kabbage): Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis, "Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places," ProPublica, May 18, 2021 (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- Lydia DePillis and Derek Willis, "An Online Lender Gave Hundreds of PPP Loans to Fake Farms. Now Congress Is Investigating," ProPublica, June 18, 2021: An Online Lender Gave Hundreds of PPP Loans to Fake Farms (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- ProPublica profile, Lydia DePillis: ProPublica profile, Lydia DePillis (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- ProPublica hiring announcement, Lydia DePillis: ProPublica hiring announcement, Lydia DePillis (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- LinkedIn profile, Lydia DePillis: LinkedIn, Jon Coss (original: linkedin.com) (self-reported profile; LinkedIn pages cannot be mirrored into the archive)