Womply’s CEO and president each received PPP loans despite taking a salary of more than $400,000, the report said. company co-founded by newscaster made millions on fraudulent PPP loans And it will be life changing money for anyone who does it.” In a text message obtained by the committee, Kristen Spencer wrote, “We are doing this for the people we hired to make money. The report indicates Elev8 hired 30 of the owner’s friends and family members to work as underwriters.
#BLUE ACORN PPP LOAN REVIEWS SERIES#
Investigators pointed out at the same time the couple purchased a series of high-end cars and an $8 million mansion with cash near Scottsdale, Arizona. In one loan application, Reis falsely claimed to be an African American veteran.īlueacorn’s consulting partner, Elev8 Advisors secured more than $200,000 in PPP loans for operators Adam and Kristen Spencer, their companies and their families, according to the report.
In addition to their $120 million cut of processing fees, Blueacorn’s founders – Nathan Reis and Stephanie Hockridge – personally received $300,000 in PPP loans, the report says. Executives, family enriched themselves with relief program Womply had a net revenue in 2021 of more than $2 billion and received a $5 million loan that SBA later rescinded. The report says Blueacorn captured more than $1 billion in taxpayer-funded processing fees and spent about $8.6 million on fraud prevention while funneling nearly $300 million in profits to its ownership.
“On top of the windfall obtained by enabling others to engage in PPP fraud, some of these individuals may have augmented their ill-gotten gains by engaging in PPP fraud themselves.” How much did these companies and their executive make? “Even as these companies failed in their administration of the program, they nonetheless accrued massive profits from program administration fees, much of which was pocketed by the companies’ owners and executives,” Clyburn said in a statement. The companies make their money through a government-paid fee for facilitating the loans.Ĭlyburn called the fraud his committee unveiled, “inexcusable misconduct” and asked the SBA, its oversight watchdog and the Department of Justice to further probe the company’s conduct. The startups are not banks but worked as middlemen, marketing to struggling businesses and quickly approving loans with partner banks, backed by the Small Business Administration. Womply had no lending experience before COVID-19 and Blueacorn did not exist, yet together the companies captured more than $3 billion in fees – eclipsing their direct competitors. James Clyburn, D-S.C., chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, focused much of the 130-page report on Womply and Blueacorn, both of which emerged as major players that fused tech and financing to speed up lending through the government’s Paycheck Protection Program. A congressional subcommittee issued its final report Thursday about financial fraud supercharged by online lending during the pandemic, which alleged executives and their families enriched themselves through government relief programs.
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