The Corporate Culprits Receiving COVID Bailouts

More than one million businesses and non-profit organizations have been identified as recipients of grants and loans awarded through the Paycheck Protection Program and other provisions of the CARES Act. Good Jobs First has determined that more than 43,000 of those recipients have been involved in corporate misconduct over the past decade. The revelation that thousands of CARES Act recipients have records of misconduct—including some cases of a criminal nature—raises the question of whether the eligibility criteria for the grant and loan programs were strict enough. This report argues that these companies should be subject to additional scrutiny to ensure they do not resume their fraudulent behavior while receiving grants and loans.