SBA Inspector General roasts agency for poor oversight of Economic Injury Disaster Loan program

In a blistering report, the Small Business Administration’s Inspector General said Tuesday that the agency’s COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is an open door for fraudsters seeking easy money.

“OIG has been inundated with contacts to investigative field offices from financial institutions across the nation and the complaint Hotline,” the IG said in a report released Tuesday.

In one instance, the IG said that a federal credit union reported that 59 of the 60 EIDL transactions it reviewed were fraudulent.

As of June 19, the SBA had approved more than $250 million in economic injury loans and payment to potentially ineligible businesses, the IG said. In addition, as of June 6, the agency had made duplicate loans to nearly 300 businesses.

 

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