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The US Justice Department on Tuesday brought its first criminal charges against people it accused of defrauding the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program aimed at dulling the coronavirus pandemic’s heavy hit on the economy. The small-business loan program is part of an unprecedented $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic package meant to reimburse businesses and households for …

The US Federal Reserve on Thursday widened a key program to nurse the “Main Street” economy through the coronavirus pandemic, agreeing to lend to even larger firms, taking on more risk in participation with banks, and hinting at some form of dedicated help for nonprofits. The central bank said it would expand its “Main Street …

Banks trying to submit applications for thousands of small businesses seeking coronavirus relief loans have hit a bottleneck for a second day at the Small Business Administration. Banking industry groups said Tuesday the SBA’s loan processing system is still unable to handle the volume of loan applications from business owners trying to get aid under …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 — …

Bank of America said on Friday it has already received about 35,000 applications for federally backed small-business loans within hours of starting to accept them. The second largest US bank by assets became the first major bank to accept applications for the massive small-business rescue program approved by Congress last week. But the bank was …