The Trump regime has fought a months-long legal battle to block the release of detailed records from the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) loan program.
Specifically, the regime did not want to release a complete list of businesses that utilized the programs or what amount of money they received, but the SBA finally released the list last night and this may be one reason among others why it was kept secret.
Properties owned by Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner profited from both program.
From NBC News:
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 properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all.
The loans to 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 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.
In addition to keeping this list secret until now, it's also possible this is why so little scrutiny was applied to borrows in the first place and why government workers reviewing the EIDL program were recently instructed not to use the word "fraud" to describe obvious fraud.
These programs were rushed out the door in a panic for other reasons when the coronavirus pandemic began, but the fact that the programs could be so easily abused was a nice feature for anyone who has no scruples about such abuse. I honestly believe that some but not all of these deficiencies were included by design or executive decision.
A government controlled and run by grifters is going to engineer things in way they can easily take advantage of. It's how their brain works.