ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A Rochester company is paying $1.8 million to resolve allegations that it got loans for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) from the Small Business Administration (SBA) when they weren’t eligible for them.
The PPP was a program made in 2020 to provide emergency funds to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Small businesses could get forgivable loans from the SBA. There were eligibility restrictions to the loans, such as the number of employees, including the employees of a foreign affiliate. Applicants for the second draw PPP loans had to have fewer than 300 employees.
This is where Durst Image Technology US LLC (Durst) obtained a second draw PPP loan in 2021 that it wasn’t actually eligible for, as Durst was a subsidiary of an Italian company with multiple subsidiaries worldwide at that time, with more than 300 employees…