FIRST ON FOX: The US Small Business Association has referred 562,000 suspected fraudulent loans totaling more than $22.2 billion to the US Treasury Department for collection, according to the SBA.
“From day one, the Trump SBA has worked tirelessly to crack down on billions in pandemic-era fraud that the Biden administration has condoned or ignored,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“After careful review and with the strong support of the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force, we are taking our most decisive action yet to end a Biden-era system that protected more than 560,000 borrowers linked to more than $22 billion in alleged pandemic-era fraud,” Loeffler added.
Loans, largely from Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, were flagged for suspected fraud during former President Joe Biden’s administration but were never sent to Treasury for collection, the SBA said in its statement.
SBA accused former President Joe Biden to deliberately protect suspected fraudsters by refusing to refer them to the Treasury.
“For years, the Biden administration protected these borrowers from debt collectors under a de facto amnesty program – but today, they will finally be held accountable. The SBA is deeply grateful to the U.S. Treasury Department for its partnership in this historic action, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration as we work to recover stolen taxpayer dollars and hold fraudsters accountable,” Loeffler said.
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler, left, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., Wednesday, Ap (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In addition to referring the loans to the Treasury, the SBA also referred the borrowers to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The SBA is legally required to refer delinquent debts to Treasury, but according to the SBA announcement, none of the 560,000 borrowers were forced to repay the $22.2 billion they owed and fewer than 1,000 were under investigation by the SBA Office of Inspector General.
“More than $22 billion. We’re serious. If you commit fraudwe will find you,” a senior White House official told Fox News Digital.
Federal government mistakenly issued $692 million in duplicate PPP loans
Efforts to return loans and get borrowers repaid are being led by the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, led by Vice President JD Vance and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson.
“Finding and recovering these billions of dollars was only possible because of the whole-of-government efforts of the task force. The vice president is proud of the many milestones the task force has already achieved, and this is just the beginning,” a spokesperson for Vance told Fox News Digital.
These broad fraud reports are part of a broader anti-corruption campaign overseen by Vance and his task force. Working with the task force, the SBA is now identifying a wide range of potential pandemic loan frauds.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance (center) speaks during a Fraud Task Force meeting in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House March 27, 2026 in Washington, DC. Vice President JD Vance holds Fraud Task Force meeting with goal of cutting federal spending (Heather Diehl/Getty Images/Getty Images)
LOEFFLER TARGETS $50 BILLION SBA PROGRAM THAT HAS NEVER BEEN REVIEWED AND BANS 112,000 MORE COVID LOAN FRAUDERS
“Search results show over 1,000,000 suspicious Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans,” Vance wrote in a memo on the first day of his task force.
The administration estimates that of the $1.2 trillion in PPP and EIDL loans approved by the SBA between 2020 and 2021, at least $200 billion is fraudulent, the agency wrote in a Friday memo.
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler, from left, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The SBA has launched new measures to combat fraud, including citizenship and date of birth verification and a state-by-state investigation of fraudsters, according to a memo at the beginning of April.
The agency has already suspended nearly 112,000 borrowers suspected of obtaining fraudulent loans in California and Minnesota.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Treasury Department and the Federal Trade Commission for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
