• Nearly 300 US businesses that got COVID-19 aid through PPP have reportedly closed

    Nearly 300 US businesses that got COVID-19 aid through PPP have reportedly closed

    Nearly 300 American businesses have folded despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loans meant to keep them afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, a new report says. Some 285
  • Nearly 60 percent of COVID-19 business closures are permanent: report

    Nearly 60 percent of COVID-19 business closures are permanent: report

    Nearly 60 percent of businesses that closed nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic are never reopening again, according to a report. The vast majority of those businesses are restaurants and gift stores, according to Yelp’s Local Economic Impact Report, a monthly survey of business listings. As of Aug. 31, 163,735 businesses were listed as closed, with …
  • Feds charge 57 with defrauding COVID-19 relief loan program

    Feds charge 57 with defrauding COVID-19 relief loan program

    Federal law enforcement authorities have charged 57 people with stealing $175 million from an aid program meant to help small businesses weather pandemic lockdowns, officials said on Thursday, adding that they are eyeing hundreds more suspected cases of fraud. Officials said they have identified 500 individuals who may have defrauded the $660 billion Paycheck Protection …
  • COVID-19 relief loans reportedly went to dozens of ineligible businesses

    COVID-19 relief loans reportedly went to dozens of ineligible businesses

    Dozens of businesses raked in at least $20 million in federal coronavirus relief loans despite appearing ineligible to receive them, a new report says. More than 75 firms got Paycheck Protection Program loans worth at least $150,000 even though they didn’t exist before the spring or failed to meet other criteria for the program, the …
  • COVID threatens gains for NYC’s minority businesses, study says

    COVID threatens gains for NYC’s minority businesses, study says

    Business was booming for New York City’s merchants of color before the coronavirus pandemic pushed many to the brink of collapse, a new report says. The Big Apple was home to 64,514 minority-owned businesses — or 31.4 percent of all firms citywide — in 2017, up 7.4 percent from about 60,000 in 2012, according to …
  • Scammer posing as Small Business Administration to steal personal info

    Scammer posing as Small Business Administration to steal personal info

    A scammer is sending bogus emails from the US Small Business Administration to steal personal information from unsuspecting Americans, the feds have warned. The messages direct potential victims to a malicious webpage disguised as an SBA website that the “unknown malicious cyber actor” uses to steal credentials, according to an alert from the Department of …
  • Business is booming for NYC psychics amid COVID-19 pandemic

    Business is booming for NYC psychics amid COVID-19 pandemic

    Who could’ve seen this coming? While storefronts are going bust across the Big Apple due to the coronavirus pandemic, New York’s psychics and fortune-tellers say they are seeing more clients — and making more money — than ever before. Unlike most businesses, they thrive in times of uncertainty and despair. “When there’s a big change …
  • Nation’s top CEOs sign letter calling for urgent small businesses aid

    Nation’s top CEOs sign letter calling for urgent small businesses aid

    Many small businesses across the country face near-certain catastrophe if they do not receive Federal aid soon, a Monday letter signed by some of the biggest names in business claims. Mom and pop shops face “a wave of permanent closures” by Labor Day if the government doesn’t step in with a comprehensive recovery program, according …
  • Small business loan program rife with potential fraud, watchdog says

    Small business loan program rife with potential fraud, watchdog says

    Suspected fraudsters have infiltrated a loan program meant to help small businesses weather the coronavirus crisis — and the feds are letting them slip through, a watchdog warned. The Small Business Administration’s inspector general has received more than 5,000 complaints from lenders about suspected fraud in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which offers aid …
  • Business is blooming at NYC Flower District staple thanks to outdoor dining

    Business is blooming at NYC Flower District staple thanks to outdoor dining

    From mid-March until early June, the jungle on West 28th Street was nowhere to be found. Instead, the boxwoods and hydrangeas that once lined the sidewalks along Sixth Avenue were in storage, the latest victims of the coronavirus. Like the restaurants, barber shops and tailors forced by New York’s health officials to shut their doors …