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Companies linked to the family and associates of President Donald Trump will receive up to $ 21 million in government loans designed to shore up payroll expenses for companies struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to federal data released Monday.
A hydroponic lettuce farm backed by Trump’s oldest son Donald Jr. applied for at least $ 150,000 in Small Business Administration funds. Albert Hazzouri, a dentist frequently seen at Mar-a-Lago, asked for a similar amount. A hospital run by Maria Ryan, a close associate of Trump’s attorney and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, requested more than $ 5 million. Several companies connected with the President’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner could get more than $ 6 million.
Companies connected to Trump’s orbit are not prohibited from receiving money. Democrats added a provision to the CARES Act that excludes government officials and their families from receiving some bailout funds, but not those from the PPP.
The firms sought funds under the Paycheck Protection Program, one of the Trump administration’s extensive pandemic relief efforts. Created in late March by the CARES Act, it allowed small businesses, generally those with fewer than 500 employees, to apply for loans of up to $ 10 million. Loans can be forgiven if they are used to cover payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.
The program paid $ 521 billion to nearly 4.9 million companies in an effort to help small businesses and their workers amid the sudden economic shock caused by the pandemic. As applications slowed down after the initial fever, $ 132 billion remained unspent, and Congress voted to extend the program.
After refusing to release the names, the government bowed to pressure from critics and vigilante groups. On Monday, the administration revealed only those entities that were approved by banks for loans of more than $ 150,000. A consortium of news organizations, including ProPublica, has sued the administration under the Freedom of Information Act to publish the full list of recipients and details of the loan.
The program has been criticized for including some loan recipients, particularly large publicly-traded companies, and for favoring wealthier companies that had existing relationships with banks. In some cases, customers can essentially skip the line. Overall, however, many economists praise the PPP for bringing billions to companies relatively quickly.
The New York Observer, the news website Kushner ran before entering the White House and which is still owned by his brother-in-law’s investment firm, received approval of between $ 350,000 and $ 1 million, the data shows. . A company called Princeton Forrestal LLC, owned by at least 40 percent of the Kushner family members, according to a 2018 securities filing, was approved for $ 1 million to $ 2 million. Esplanade Livingston LLC, whose address is the same as Kushner Companies’ real estate development business, was approved for $ 350,000 to $ 1 million. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Loans to companies related to Kushner were first reported by The Daily Beast.
Additionally, up to $ 2 million was approved for the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, a nonprofit religious school in Livingston, NJ, named for the grandfather of Jared Kushner and supported by the family.
In April, a bank approved a loan of between $ 150,000 and $ 350,000 for the Pennsylvania dental practice of Albert Hazzouri, who plays golf with Trump and frequents Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. In 2017, Hazzouri used his access to the president to pass him a club stationery policy proposal on behalf of the American Dental Association. He addressed the note to Trump “Dear King.”
Hazzouri also leaned on her relationship with Trump in a failed attempt to obtain a dental license to expand her Florida business. Hazzouri did not immediately return calls seeking comment Monday.
Companies linked to the President’s children will also benefit from the program. A small indoor lettuce growing business applied for funds between $ 150,000 and $ 350,000, according to SBA data. Trump Jr. had invested in Eden Green Technology, a vertical farming company south of Dallas, whose co-chair Gentry Beach was a fundraiser for the Trump campaign.
Trump Jr. bought his shares when Beach sought funds from the Trump administration for his other global business interests, ProPublica first reported in December 2018.
The company has said that Trump Jr. played no role in Eden Green’s management and was brought in during “fundraising efforts by friends and family in the United States.” A spokesman, Trevor Moore, said the company “followed standard procedure” when applying for the PPP loan and that “receiving it has allowed 18 jobs to be preserved.” It is unclear how much Trump Jr. invested or whether he has been paid dividends since he bought his shares. Neither Trump Jr. nor a spokesman responded to a message seeking comment.
Monday’s list included a Manhattan law firm whose marquee attorney has fiercely defended Trump for nearly two decades. Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, whose managing partner, Marc Kasowitz, was at one time the president’s top lawyer in the Russia investigation of the special lawyer, received between $ 5 and $ 10 million from Citibank, the data shows. (The largest loan a company could seek was $ 10 million.)
Once dubbed the “Donald Trump of the Bar” by The New York Times, Kasowitz represented Trump in the Trump University fraud lawsuit. and during the 2016 campaign, he helped prevent Trump’s 1990 divorce from being revealed. ProPublica reported three years ago that Kasowitz boasted to his friends that he earned between $ 10 and $ 30 million per year.
A spokeswoman for the law firm said its employees have kept their full wages and benefits thanks to the PPP loan and “substantial cost-saving measures and reduced partner distributions.” The firm has around 400 employees, the data shows. She said neither Kasowitz nor the firm had conversations with anyone in the administration about the loan. Other major law firms, such as Boies Schiller Flexner and Wiley Rein, also received loans.
The loans helped a hospital executive closely linked to another Trump lawyer and confidant, Rudy Giuliani. Cottage Hospital, a 25-bed critical access center in Woodsville, New Hampshire, received between $ 2 million and $ 5 million in PPP loans. The hospital’s executive director, Maria Ryan, is a longtime close associate with Giuliani.
For the past few years, Ryan has accompanied Giuliani on trips to Jerusalem, where the two visited the Hadassah Medical Organization, and London, where they attended a two-game series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Last September Giuliani took Ryan to a state dinner at the White House.
Ryan is currently co-hosting a radio show with Giuliani called “Uncovering the Truth”. He has referred to Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, as his “business partner.” Cottage Hospital’s annual income generally exceeds $ 30 million, according to its most recent publicly available federal tax return. Ryan’s salary, according to the latest filings, is nearly $ 300,000.
“Sir. Giuliani has nothing to do with the PPP loan,” Ryan wrote in an email to ProPublica. “We apply like any other small business through our bank.”
The loan data released Monday does not reveal the $ 30 billion in loans that have been canceled. It also does not provide specific dollar amounts, but ranges of loan amounts. Businesses that spend the money under key program provisions, which primarily involve continuing to pay workers, will receive loan forgiveness.
Last week, Trump signed legislation to extend the program until early August.
