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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has added emergency loans for small businesses to its list of government programs vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. On March 2, 2021, GAO released its latest High Risk List identifying troubled federal government programs in need of significant improvement. The GAO concluded that the Small Business Administration (SBA) must demonstrate more robust integrity controls and better management practices over the PPP and EIDL programs. GAO’s findings put pressure on the SBA to ensure quicker adoption of GAO’s recommendations for improvements and keeps public focus on the need for SBA audits and investigations of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program participants.
Continue Reading GAO’s High Risk List Puts Spotlight on Emergency Loans For Small Businesses, Reinforcing Audit and Investigation Risk for PPP and EIDL Program Participants

In this episode, host Mana Lombardo and partner Tully McLaughlin discuss the top FCA decisions and developments of 2020 and look ahead to what’s in store in 2021 and beyond. “Let’s Talk FCA” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest developments with the False Claims Act.

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In this episode, hosts Jacinta Alves and Mana Lombardo continue to discuss DOJ FCA investigations and more common mistakes that targets make in defending these investigations with partner Michael Shaheen. “Let’s Talk FCA” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest developments with the False Claims Act.

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From the inception of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), borrowers questioned the meaning of the economic necessity certification that the Small Business Administration (SBA) required borrowers to make in the PPP loan application. While the SBA provided some definition to this certification in such Frequently Asked Questions as FAQs 31, 37, and 46, uncertainty remained.

In this episode, hosts Jacinta Alves and Mana Lombardo discuss DOJ FCA investigations and common mistakes that targets make in defending these investigations with partner Michael Shaheen. “Let’s Talk FCA” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest developments with the False Claims Act.

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On October 2, 2020 (almost two months after the August 10, 2020 commencement of the acceptance period for forgiveness applications), the Small Business Administration (SBA) released an SBA Procedural Notice (the “Notice”) concerning required procedures for change of ownership of an entity that has received PPP loans (the “PPP Borrower”). Under the Notice, SBA approval

On August 4, 2020, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) addressing numerous technical issues on PPP Loan Forgiveness. On August 11, 2020, the FAQs were updated to include additional guidance for recipients of both PPP Loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.

The following are the major takeaways from the

On July 28, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report titled, “Serious Concerns of Potential Fraud in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program Pertaining to the Response to COVID-19.” The report identifies and summarizes OIG’s “serious concerns” of potential fraud and calls for “immediate attention and

On July 6, 2020, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has made publicly available various types of information about all Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, and targeted media scrutiny has immediately followed. For loans of $150,000 and above, the SBA has released the loan range (e.g., $150,000 – 350,000, $1,000,000 – 2,000,000, $5,000,000 – 10,000,000) and