25. Small Business Administration · Notable
Refer PPP applicants who misrepresented eligibility to DOJ
Printed page 753 25. Small Business Administration
“Regardless of whether it reverses its forgiveness, if its investigation uncovers evidence that Planned Parenthood affiliates or any other loan recipients knowingly misrepresented their eligibility in their applications, the SBA should make appropriate referrals to the Department of Justice.”
What has happened
- Partially done
The referral relationship was institutionalized: SBA OIG signed the National Fraud Detection Center charter, committing analysts and investigators to a prosecutor-led DOJ effort alongside the DOJ Fraud Division, other Inspectors General and federal law enforcement. Still `partial`, because the Quote's condition attaches to the outcome of the Planned Parenthood investigation (#2049), which is open and has produced no published referral.
- Partially done
The SBA made the referrals at record scale: alongside sending 562,000 suspected fraudulent PPP and COVID-EIDL borrowers to Treasury for collection, "the SBA has transmitted the borrowers to the DOJ" — a population the release says the prior administration had neither collected on nor referred, and of which "fewer than 1,000 … had been subject to investigations by the SBA Office of Inspector General".
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Boundary call, raised for the ticket-26 pass. On the Quote’s second clause — “or any other loan recipients” — the ask is delivered: 562,000 borrowers referred to DOJ and a standing joint detection center, which would support done. It is leveled partial because the sentence opens on the Planned Parenthood investigation, which has not concluded and has produced no referral, and because a referral duty is continuing rather than a state the object can be left in.
- The SBA newsroom carried roughly one prosecution announcement a week through the window, most jointly with U.S. Attorneys’ offices; they evidence that referrals are routine but each is a single case, so the two agency-level actions are cited instead.
- Action
- other
- Object
- Department of Justice referrals for false PPP eligibility certifications
- ID
- 2050