According to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General, tens of thousands of PPP loan fraudsters used the funds to purchase luxury goods including Lamborghinis, vacation homes, private jet flights, and Cartier jewelry to name a few. The country lost an estimated $200 billion in COVID relief funds due to the system being so easy to manipulate, says the NY Post. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress issued $1.2 trillion in 2020 and 2021 in COVID relief funds for businesses through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDLP) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

According to the SBA, they have estimated over 90,000

“actionable leads,”

including several celebrities who participated in the COVID loan schemes. 

“The fraud was so easy to commit. All of the information was self-reported and none of it was verified or checked,”

Haywood Talcove of LexisNexis Risk Solutions told The Post.

“During the height of the pandemic, it was really hard to purchase [luxury] items like a Rolls-Royce, or a high-end Mercedes because you had people walking in with cash from the PPP program to purchase those items for whatever the dealer was asking,”

Talcove said. 

Former NFL player Josh Bellamy was one of the many PPP loan scammers. He reportedly collected a $1.2 million loan for his company, Drip Entertainment LLC, in 2021 after falsifying documents and providing false information.

The Jets wide receiver later confessed that he used the money to pay for a stay at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and jewelry. He also admitted to dishing out more than $311,000 to a reported accomplice.

Baby Blue of Pretty Ricky was released from prison earlier this year after serving a year of his 20-month sentence for PPP fraud. Blue was accused of

“filing fake applications to obtain funds through the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program,”

reports reveal. He now owes over a million dollars in restitution. 

#Clique, what are your thoughts?