KANSAS CITY — Vice President JD Vance said Monday that approximately 870,000 people accused of fraud will be permanently barred from receiving small-business loans after allegedly siphoning tens of billions of dollars from COVID-era assistance programs.
Vance said the fraud involved the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which together may have directed as much as $39 billion to fraudulent recipients.
“As it happens with so many of the programs that are born out of the generosity of the American taxpayer, we had many, many people who took advantage of those programs, people who decided to steal from the American taxpayer, steal money that was supposed to go to small businesses and American workers as well,” Vance said while outlining his latest anti-fraud initiative.
“If you screw the American taxpayer, the government is now gonna say you’re cut off — no more,” he added.
Attorney General Todd Blanche also discussed prosecutions involving several alleged COVID-loan fraudsters. Among them was a person who created dozens of fake companies to obtain the funding while operating just one legitimate business, called “Fur Lives Matter.”
Speaking at the Republican midterm convention last week, Vance said the administration’s anti-fraud task force had recovered approximately $250 billion so far.
