Businesses connected to Donald Trump and Jared Kushner raked in millions of dollars in PPP loans that were supposed to go to small businesses.
Via The Daily Beast, three Kushner family businesses got PPP money:
Records show $350,000 to $1 million went to Observer Holdings LLC, the parent entity of Observer Media—the publishing company formerly owned by White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner. Kushner resigned from the news organization before decamping to Washington, D.C. in 2017, but it has remained in the family: Joseph Meyer, wedded to Kushner’s sister, Nicole, lists it among the holdings of his Observer Capital investment firm. The federal assistance preserved 41 jobs, according to the SBA.
The Observer was not the only Kushner family business to take advantage of the PPP program.
Two of the family’s New Jersey hotels also cashed in. The SBA materials show that $1 million to $2 million in assistance went to Princeton Forrestal LLC—revealed in Security and Exchange Commission records to be 40 percent owned by the former developer’s mother, brother, and sister. Esplanade Livingston LLC, which owns the land on which the company’s Westminster Hotel sits, received another $350,000 to $1 million. Mortgage documents filed in Essex County, New Jersey show that Esplanade Livingston LLC is controlled by C.K. Livingston LLC, a company that bears the initials of Jared Kushner’s father Charles—and which the former disclosed in 2017 as a source of personal income from the hotel.
Trump world got their piece of the pie too, according to Ken Vogel:
A top fundraising firm for TRUMP's campaign & the RNC received $1-$2m in PPP $.
The firm, @flsconnect, has been paid MORE THAN $22 MILLION by Trump's campaign & the RNC since 2017.
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) July 6, 2020
BLACK TIE PROTECTION SERVICES, a co. linked to TRUMP's campaign, got $150k-$350k from PPP.
Black Tie has been paid $1.5m by Trump's campaign & RNC.
It was part of a TRUMP security team headed by @KeithSchiller45 that was accused of roughing up protesters https://t.co/4fOsDUwSot
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) July 6, 2020
Some prominent Democratic aligned groups got loans as well:
It's not just Republicans getting PPP $$$.
Some DEM-aligned entities that got loans:
• @mmfa: $1m-$2m
• @themessinagroup: $350k-$1m
• @Lake_Research: $350k-$1m
• @Catalist_US: $350k-$1m
• @CREWcrew: $350k-$1m
• @CBCFInc: $350k-$1m
• @CHCI: $350k-$1m
• @acslaw: $350k-$1m— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) July 6, 2020
The Trump/Kushner family still found a way to get their hands on millions of dollars that were intended to go to small businesses on Main Street America.
Too much of this money went to the political elite. It is now clear why the Trump administration did not want to release the PPP loan data and only did so after weeks of Congressional Democratic pressure. The PPP didn’t help the small businesses that needed it most. It went to the most politically connected.
Millions of dollars went to the Kushner family alone.
The PPP is a good idea, and if it is overseen by a non-corrupt administration it still has the potential to save small businesses around the country.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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