NEW YORK – A company calling itself Shaila’s Big Fresh Oranges, of Mantorville, Minnesota, filed two times for Covid Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to a ProPublica investigative journalism project. There is no such company, Propublica reported. The first claim, for $18,000, was paid by the government. A second claim from Shaila’s Oranges was filed for $20,000. A check was sent but never cashed. The case was among 370 loans totaling $7 million from fake farms nationally, ProPublica said.
PPP profile
Congress created the Payroll Protection Program in 2020 to help businesses keep employees on the payroll during the pandemic small-business crash. The business loans totaled $953 billion. The extent of fraud, although worrisome, seems minuscule. The farm fraud cases identified by ProPublica comprise about .07% — less than one-100th of a percent.