PPP Loans For Startups/Growth Companies—Former Attorney General’s Perspective—Lessons From Hurricane Sandy & 9/11

“If the money doesn’t come out fast enough, the politicians will be criticized.”

- Chris Porrino, formerly 60th Attorney General of New Jersey

The U.S. government has been rapidly pushing $349 billion of funding out the door in SBA Section 7(a) Payroll Protection Program (PPP) Loans, while “encouraging” the public “to apply as quickly as you can because there is a funding cap.” The ‘get it while it lasts’ nature of the program combined with the vague requirements regarding business qualifications for a PPP loan, will create very fertile grounds for future fraud claims.

Understanding how this scenario will play out informs how loan applicants should approach PPP loans. Several of us are former senior law enforcement officials who led investigations and prosecutions of the fraud cases that arose from relief funding in the wake of Hurricane Sandy (2012) and 9/11, and we see commonalities and differences between those past relief efforts and today’s PPP loans.

Last Thursday, we assembled approximately 600 people for a WebEx (viewable here) to apply our enforcement perspectives to these loans in the startup/growth company context.

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