Trump and Kushner Companies are major beneficiaries of PPP loans
Following months of litigation between the Small Business Administration and news organizations seeking data about who benefited from pandemic relief programs, the agency on Tuesday night released a sweeping dataset of 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.
An initial analysis by NBC News, one of eleven newsrooms which sued for the data’s release, raised questions about the equitability and distribution of these loans. It became clear very quickly that properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as his son in law’s family at the Kushner Companies profited from the program.