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The feds plan to audit all large coronavirus relief loans amid an outcry over big companies getting help at the expense of struggling small businesses. The US Small Business Administration will review all Paycheck Protection Program loans worth more than $2 million before forgiving the debt, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday. Loans from the …
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The feds are concerned that Zoom’s security flaws could make the popular videoconferencing platform vulnerable to foreign spies, a new report says. An intelligence analysis from the Department of Homeland Security found that Zoom’s explosive growth and its well known security problems make it a “target-rich environment” for government spy services and other hackers, ABC …
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The Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee meets this week, and there’s really not much left for it to do, other than to repeat previous messages about being there if the country needs it. I asked Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, to sum it up so I wouldn’t have to. “The Federal Reserve has cut …
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The Los Angeles Lakers returned a loan obtained through the US government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the team confirmed on Monday, after learning that funds in the federal program had been depleted. The loans were intended to help smaller businesses with no more than 500 employees cover employee payroll and rent, with large sectors of …
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Hedge fund and private equity firms are not eligible for the types of US government loans designed to provide relief to small businesses from the economic hardship of the coronavirus outbreak, the Small Business Administration said on Friday. “Hedge funds and private equity firms are primarily engaged in investment or speculation, and such businesses are …
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Small businesses shut out of the government’s paycheck protection loan program last week are fuming at their banks for fumbling their applications. Dan Abrams, who owns The Mermaid Inn and five other eateries in Manhattan, had all of his loan documents at the ready when the Small Business Administration launched the $350 million stimulus program …
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Banks raked in $10 billion in fees for handing out US-backed loans to shore up small businesses battered by the coronavirus — despite taking on little to no risk on the deals, a new report says. The feds paid banks for serving as intermediaries for the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which allowed any federally …
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US restaurants are on track to take a $50 billion hit in April, with losses mounting to an estimated $240 billion by the end of 2020, as the coronvirus crisis ravages the industry, according to a National Restaurant Association survey released on Monday. Two thirds of U.S. restaurant workers — or 8 million people — …
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Supplements maker Balance of Nature is making phony claims that its products can ward off the coronavirus, a consumer watchdog claimed in federal complaints filed Tuesday. The Utah-based company — which touts its “Fruits and Veggies” supplements on radio programs hosted by comedian Joe Piscopo and political commentator Kevin McCullough among others — falsely claims …
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Shameless scammers will try to steal coronavirus stimulus checks, according to federal officials, who say common sense precautions can stop them in their tracks. Officials say con artists will try a wide range of schemes to bilk Americans out of the $1,200 payments the Trump administration has started delivering to help people shore up their …