IG Finds Trump Administration Issued $692 Million in Duplicate PPP Loans

Summary

Press release of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis dated March 15, 2021, giving a statement by Chairman James E. Clyburn on an SBA OIG Flash Report identifying $692 million in duplicate Paycheck Protection Program loans. The statement says the report is consistent with the Select Subcommittee's earlier findings that billions in PPP loans may have been diverted to fraud, waste, and abuse. It recounts a June 23, 2020 letter asking the SBA OIG for review and a September 1, 2020 preliminary analysis. It quotes the report as finding that SBA issued 8,731 loans totaling approximately $692 million to 4,260 borrowers sharing a tax identification number, business name, or address with another borrower.

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Following Select Subcommittee Referral, IG Finds Trump Administration Issued $692 Million in Duplicate PPP Loans

March 15, 2021

Press Release

Washington, D.C. (March 15, 2021) — Today, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, issued the following statement in response to the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) publishing a Flash Report identifying $692 million in duplicate loans issued by the previous Administration under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The IG report also confirmed the Select Subcommittee's preliminary analysis that the Trump Administration mismanaged the program and failed to implement effective controls to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse:

"I commend the SBA Office of Inspector General for conducting a thorough review of duplicate PPP loans as requested by the Select Subcommittee. The Inspector General's report is consistent with the Select Subcommittee's findings last year that billions of dollars in PPP loans issued by the prior Administration may have been diverted to fraud, waste, and abuse. Today's report is yet more evidence of the Trump Administration's poor implementation of PPP, which ignored the intent of Congress by failing to get vital assistance to the neediest small businesses. I look forward to continuing to work with the SBA Inspector General and the Biden-Harris Administration to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of the pandemic response."

On June 23, 2020 , the Select Subcommittee sent a letter to the SBA OIG requesting immediate review of the Trump Administration's mismanagement of PPP and flagging an error at SBA that allowed for "more than a thousand duplicate loans, creating significant opportunities for fraud and potentially wasting more than $100 million in taxpayer dollars."

On September 1, 2020 , the Select Subcommittee released its own preliminary analysis of PPP loan-level data detailing billions of dollars may have been diverted to fraud, waste, and abuse.

On March 3, 2021 , the Select Subcommittee sent a letter to SBA and the Department of Treasury as part of its continuing investigation of the PPP to understand what went wrong last year and determine whether additional steps are needed to ensure that remaining PPP funds are allocated to small businesses truly in need.

Today's SBA OIG Flash Report concluded that, under the Trump Administration, SBA "did not always have sufficient controls in place to detect and prevent duplicate PPP loans." As a result of this controls failure, SBA issued 8,731 loans totaling approximately $692 million to 4,260 borrowers with the same tax identification number, business name, or address as another borrower. Duplicate disbursements occurred through August 8, 2020.

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