The Paycheck Protection Program created to help small businesses survive the pandemic by doling out loans to help them retain employees has been a bonanza for companies linked to the rich and famous, according to new reports.
The website ProPublica has amassed a searchable database of the loans, which media outlets have been exploring to find out how many rich recipients will never have to pay back a dime.
The trick is to know the corporate names of businesses in which the rich and famous either operate or have a share in.
Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has an 8.1 percent share in a company called EDI Associates, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.
The restaurant company received loans of more than $1.7 million from the federal government, which won’t have to be repaid, the Daily Mail reported.
This one holds a special place in my ❤️@SpeakerPelosi ‘s husband Paul Pelosi took some PPP loans as well even though him and his wife do absolutely excellent in the stock market and both also have two full time careers. Clearly they needed it… pic.twitter.com/lMVDb6HpwL
— Mike Roy (@MikeDotRoy) August 21, 2022
EDI Associates was given two loans – one for $711,708 and the other for $996,392.
As the database shows, both loans have been forgiven. As noted by the Daily Mail, the decision to forgive a loan is based upon a formula that takes into account the number of employees retained and their wages.
The news about the husband of the House speaker raised eyebrows on social media.
Paul Pelosi has a net worth of over 120 Million and took a 1,709,100 dollar PPP loan that was then forgiven. But they need 87,000 IRS agents to look into your finances.
— Joey – PotowatomiX! Still with Sarcasm (@jjstyx) August 17, 2022
Paul Pelosi and Hollywood Crooks have millions of loans forgiven https://t.co/xHYAZrEnXT
— K. Bitterman Gross (@KBittermanGross) August 19, 2022
And companies associated with Paul Pelosi forgiven their PPP loans,so I hear https://t.co/99NnOmcYNT
— anonymouse?♂️???? (@HUGHSIE22) August 19, 2022
Of course, Paul Pelosi wasn’t the only one of the nation’s elite who benefitted.
Khloe Kardashian, the reality star member of one of America’s most famous — or infamous — families was also in on the action, the Daily Mail reported.
Did the PPP program do more harm than good?
Kardashian, who has a net worth of $60 million, owns a company called Good American LLC, which received a loan of $1,245,405, according to the Daily Mail.
Once again, as it was in Pelosi’s case and that of other wealth business owners. that loan was forgiven, the newspaper reported. The business had a payroll of 57 employees, according to the Daily Mail.
NFL star Tom Brady also got in on the game, according to the Daily Mail.
Brady operates a health-related business known as TB12 Inc.
The company’s PPP loan of $960,855 was forgiven, the Daily Mail reported.
EXCLUSIVE: It pays to be rich! America’s wealthiest, including Tom Brady, Khloe Kardashian, Reese Witherspoon, Kanye and Nancy Pelosi’s husband took millions in PPP loans – and nearly all have been forgivenhttps://t.co/l8F7OtorZF
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) August 18, 2022
The website MarketWatch noted that studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor David Autor and Federal Reserve economists have estimated the Paycheck Protection Programs cost between $170,000 to $257,000 for every job saved.
The study also claimed that only about 23 percent of the money went to workers who would have lost their jobs if not for the loans.
