WASHINGTON–The first insights into who got loans and for how much from the Paycheck Protection Program have been released by the Treasury Department.
To date, reported Treasury, the PPP has guaranteed 4.9 million forgivable loans worth a combined $521 billion via 5,500 lenders, with many of the loans going to some well-known names. Only the names of borrowers who took out more than $150,000 was released.
“My 1,000-foot takeaway is that the government was handing out free money and the line went around the corner,” Aaron Klein, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution told the New York Times.
According to the Small Business Administration, the PPP loans helped support more than 50 million jobs, with an average loan size was $107,000. Not included in the data is the roughly $30 billion in loans that were returned by companies that realized they weren’t eligible, worried about meeting the conditions to make the loans forgivable or frightened by the public outcry about big firms getting funds, noted the New York Times.
Lobbying, Law Firms Get Funds
“Washington lobbying shops, high-priced law firms and special-interest groups also received big loans, according to the administration, the latest indication of how the government’s centerpiece effort to shore up mom-and-pop shops set off a race by organizations far afield from Main Street to secure federal money,” reported the Times.
As CUToday.info has reported extensively, the loans are forgivable if borrowers use the bulk of the money to rehire workers on the same salaries as before the pandemic (or make a “good faith” effort to do so). If not, the fee-free, unsecured two- and five-year loans levy a 1% annual interest rate, which is still an attractive offer. Since launch of the program, Congress has amended it several times to change its terms, including most recently extending through August the deadline for applying for the more than $100 billion that remains available.
The Recipients
Among some of the findings in an early analysis of the data by the New York Times:
- Several investment firms that manage billions of dollars, including Semper Capital Management, Domini Impact Investments and Brevet Holdings, received funds.
- More than 100 law firms received loans ranging from $1 million to $10 million, including Boies Schiller Flexner, Wiley Rein, and Kasowitz Benson Torres, the latter of which was founded and is run by President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Marc E. Kasowitz and which received a loan for between $5 million and $10 million.
- The Trump Organization did not apply for loans under the program, but data show that dozens of tenants at buildings owned by Mr. Trump or managed by his companies received funds.
- Some loan recipients are connected to the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. The data show that a loan of between $350,000 and $1 million was made to Esplanade Livingston, a Kushner family entity that owns the land in Livingston, N.J., where the family’s Westminster Hotel is. In 2018, Mr. Kushner divested his stake in the entity, from which he once derived income generated by that hotel, the Times reported. Princeton Forrestal, a real estate entity owned by various members of the Kushner family not including Jared Kushner, received a loan of between $1 million and $2 million
- A number of companies with connections to federal lawmakers and their families received funds, including Rep. Markwayne Mullin and Rep. Devin Nunes and Sen. Susan Collins.
- Car dealerships connected to Representative Mike Kelly received three loans, each between $150,000 and $350,000. Kelly, a multimillionaire, owns Mike Kelly Automotive Group, Mike Kelly Automotive L.P.; and Mike Kelly Hyundai, all of which accepted loans, the data show.
- The Ayn Rand Institute, “which is dedicated to the anti-statist philosopher, and an arm of Americans for Tax Reform, the group founded by the famously anti-tax activist Grover Norquist,” received funds, the Times reported.
- A number of companies that appear on the list as having received funds said they did not receive any federal aid.
- Nearly 5,000 businesses received individual loans between $5 million and $10 million, according to the data. The administration included ranges for the amounts, not specific figures.
- Restaurants, medical offices and car dealerships were the top recipients of large loans from the program. More than 40,000 full- or limited-service restaurants received loans worth as much as $32 billion, according to the ranges provided by the government.