The Small Business Administration is being sued by the American Small Business League (ASBL) in Federal District Court in San Francisco. The case was filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) after the SBA refused to release the names of all recipients of government PPP funds and the specific amounts each firm received.
The ASBL believes the data will show a disproportionate volume of the PPP funds went to predominately large businesses. The ASBL points to U.S. Census Bureau data that indicate 98 percent of all firms in the United States have less than 100 employees and are responsible for over 97 percent of the net new jobs.
ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated, “The 98 percent of all U.S. firms that have less than 100 employees should have received the vast majority of these PPP funds. When we win this case and force the Trump Administration to release all the data, I’m confident we will see minority-owned firms were largely ignored and that most of the PPP money actually went to some very large companies. The federal government has a long history of diverting small business funds to clearly large businesses and even Fortune 500 firms and their subsidiaries. I think one of the reasons the Trump Administration is refusing to release the names of all firms that received PPP funds [is that it] will show a disproportionate number of the firms that received the largest amounts of PPP funds were supporters of President Trump. I expect millions in those funds will find their way back to President Trump’s campaign.”
ASBL President Lloyd Chapman has won over 100 Freedom of Information Act legal battles against the federal government. The ASBL recently won one of the largest Freedom of Information Act cases in history against the Pentagon. The Pentagon was forced to issue a check to the ASBL for $500,000 to reimburse their legal fees in that case.
Federal District Court Judge William Alsup has described the ASBL as an “underdog” in a “David and Goliath battle against big government and big business.”
The San Francisco law firm of CANNATA, O’TOOLE, FICKES & OLSON LLP will be representing the ASBL in the case.
For more information:
Lloyd Chapman — lcfoia@asbl.com, 707-789-9575
Karl Olson — kolson@cofolaw.com, 415-409-8900
K. Miller — 760-668-0886
