A Michigan man was sentenced today to 32 months in federal prison for fraudulently seeking nearly $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

WASHINGTON After prodding from Democratic lawmakers, the Trump administration has agreed to give Congress but not the public complete data on the millions of small businesses that received loans from a $600 billion-plus coronavirus aid program. Their concession came with a warning to lawmakers not to divulge confidential loan information to the wider public. Last week, the Treasury Department and SBA relented to pressure from lawmakers and watchdogs and agreed to publicly disclose details on which businesses received loans under the program. Under the new agreement, the agencies will provide the complete data on loans of all sizes to the congressional oversight panels. Economists have said the small business loan program has helped, though its hard to know by how much.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks during a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing to examine implementation of Title I of the CARES Act, Wednesday, June 10, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. Mnuchin, testifying before the Senate Small Business Committee, said the administration plans to spend the next 30 days looking at what measures should go in the next relief bill. There is no question that small businesses in many industries will need more help, Mnuchin said. Small businesses and larger businesses are going to need more help.New support measures will need to encourage business owners to rehire workers, especially those in the hardest hit industries like restaurants and travel, he said. The applications require more paperwork from small businesses than the paycheck protection loans.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that two men from Rhode Island have been charged with fraudulently seeking SBA Paycheck Protection Loans amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Two businessmen -- David A. Staveley, aka Kurt D. Sanborn, 52, and David Butziger, 51 -- from Warwick, Rhode Island have been charged for conspiring to unlawfully obtain forgivable loans under the CARES Act for non-existent businesses. The charges follow after Staveley allegedly requested more than $438,500 in loans for dozens of employees at three restaurants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, officials said. “Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs and have had their lives thrown into chaos because of the coronavirus pandemic. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Lawrence Atkinson of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker for the District of Rhode Island.