RELEASE OF PPP LOAN RECIPIENTS' DATA REVEALS TROUBLING PATTERNS
Tenants
paying rent at Trump Organization and Kushner Companies properties are
beneficiaries of PPP loans.
Dec.
2, 2020, 12:38 AM EST By Ben Popken and Andrew W. Lehren
Sweeping
data released by the Small Business Administration on who benefited from
pandemic relief programs raises questions about the equitability and
distribution of loans intended for small businesses, an initial analysis by NBC
News shows.
The
analysis found that tenants paying rent at properties owned by the Trump
Organization as well as the Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Jared
Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, benefited
financially from the program. These tenants received loans, which they then
were required to put toward rent for the loans to be forgiven. The data did not
show that the Trump Organization received PPP loans for its properties.
After
months of litigation, the SBA released the dataset Tuesday night on 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.
The
analysis by NBC News, one of 11 newsrooms that sued for the release of data,
also 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 businesses self-reported that they only kept one job, zero
jobs or did not report a number at all.
The
loans to businesses located at Trump and Kushner properties included a
$2,164,543 loan to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp., at the 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 kept
only three jobs.
Four
tenants at the Kushner-owned 666 5th Avenue combined received more than
$204,000, and retained only six jobs.
Christopher
W Smith, General Counsel with Kushner Companies, denied that the company had
benefited improperly in any way from the program.
AMERICAN CHURCHES TOOK $10 B, CATHOLIC CHURCH
TOOK $3.5B
Third, the Trump administration was using the program to reward his closest political allies. FFRF broke the story of secretive White House calls between SBA officials and religious leaders that supported Trump politically. The preachers were encouraged to apply for the PPP funds and promised help. Trump-allied faith leaders were assured by the federal government that even a discriminatory fly-by-night “church” that provides absolutely no secular social services, and of which the owner is the sole employee, could have its wages covered by taxpayers during the PPP time period. On one call, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, a member of Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Council, explained that the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, which took in $350,000–$1 million, “has literally been kept solvent . . . by the Paycheck Protection Plan (sic)” and explained that in 43 years of leading two faith-based ministries, he has “never asked for, nor received, one cent from the federal government” expressing his surprise that taxpayer funds could now flow to his ministry.
Finally,
there’s the well-documented but still emerging abuse, including by FFRF
Director of Strategic Response Andrew Seidel, who wrote, “American
churches took in as much as $10 billion in taxpayer funds through PPP loans.
More
than 400 evangelical churches received loans of at least $1 million. The
Catholic Church might have taken in as much as $3.5 billion.”
He
explained that Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church took in nearly $5 million in
taxpayer funds.
Other
mega-churches purchased private jets, returning the taxpayer money when they
were caught.
And
this is only the tip of the corruption as the latest AP report shows.
AP: Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B
By
REESE DUNKLIN and MICHAEL REZENDES
July
10, 2020
The
U.S. Roman Catholic Church reportedly received at least $1.4 billion (and
possibly more than $3.5 billion)
in federal funds courtesy of the Paycheck Protection Program, with hundreds of millions going to dioceses that have paid massive settlements or sought bankruptcy protection due to sexual abuse claims, according to Associated Press analysis.
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