Millions of dollars in taxpayer grants went to purported children during COVID, according to new allegations from the Department of Government Efficiency.
DOGE said it has found that the Small Business Administration granted nearly 5,600 loans to borrowers who were 11 years old or younger when the loans were taken out, according to a Sunday report from Fox News.
That accounted for $312 million.
The loans were issued during the COVID years of 2020 and 2021, but DOGE did not release the purpose of the loans.
“While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used an SSN with the incorrect name,” DOGE wrote in a statement.
The statement said DOGE and the SBA “are working together to solve this problem this week.”
During those same two years, the SBA approved 3,095 loans to borrowers who were listed on the paperwork for the loans as over 115 years old.
This group of loans totals $333 million.
DOGE said the loan recipients were recorded in the Social Security database as still living.
Should every person who attempted to take these monies under false pretenses be jailed?
In one case, loans went to someone who was identified as being 157 years old, who received loans worth $36,000.
The loans included support from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
News of the suspicious payouts came shortly after DOGE leader Elon Musk revealed that there are substantial numbers of very elderly people still listed in the Social Security databases.
For instance, the database included over 1.3 million people between the ages of 150 and 159, nearly 122,000 between the ages of 160 and 169, and over 6,000 between the ages of 170 and 179.
Fraud under the PPP continues to result in court cases.
Recently, Marc Andrew Martin, 46, of Detroit, pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge in a $14 million Paycheck Protection Plan loan scheme, according to WDIV-TV in Detroit.
Between March 2020 and August 2021, Martin recruited small businesses and falsified loan applications. The SBA approved 226 loans totaling $14.5 million.
Last month, the Justice Department announced that YAPP USA Automotive Systems agreed to pay $14 million over a PPP loan for which it was not eligible.
The loan was forgiven by the SBA.
The Justice Department said the company was not eligible because of its size and also because its parent company is owned by the Chinese government.
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