As we established yesterday, the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan program was defrauded on a massive scale with up to $78 billion in funding approved for fraudulent applicants according to the SBA's inspector general. That represents about 21 percent of all funding approved for the program.
At least one of those fraudulent applicants was someone named "Donald Trump" according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg News.
Someone posing as Trump submitted an online application using an address at the White House and collected a $5,000 SBA grant, according to one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is sensitive. The same applicant also sought a loan that was denied, the person said.
The SBA said in a statement that it “caught this advance within its system” and referred the matter to its inspector general’s criminal investigation team. The inspector general’s office said it couldn’t comment on the status of that inquiry. It couldn’t be learned if the applicant was identified or the money recovered. The president wasn’t involved in any way.
Look -- I get it. The Small Business Administration was overwhelmed with extraordinarily high demand for grants and the vast majority if not all of them were automatically approved by a computer system.
With that said, you would think listing your address as the goddamn White House would throw up a red flag even if posing as "Donald Trump" didn't. Many people in this country share a name but the White House is not anyone's permanent residence. Trump is currently a permanent resident of Florida.
But you know what? I hope this person got to keep the money. They deserve it for pure comedic value.
I salute you for having the audacity to pose as Donald Trump and even list the White House as your address.
