Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin yesterday announced new plans to scrutinize the largest recipients of emergency small business loans and signaled potential criminal penalties if big companies misrepresented their financial situation to secure the money, Politico reported. Mnuchin in a CNBC interview scolded Wall Street-backed firms that received tens of millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program loans, which can be forgiven if businesses maintain their payrolls. "The purpose of this program was not social welfare for big business," he said. "The purpose of this program was to help small businesses." Mnuchin said the Small Business Administration planned to do a "full review" of any loans above $2 million before the loans are forgiven. He warned that borrowers have "criminal liability" if they falsely certified that they needed the funds to support operations. Shake Shack, Ruth's Hospitality Group and other well-known publicly traded companies were among the corporations that received loans before the first wave of funding ran out on April 16. Many have started to return the money amid pressure from the Trump administration and the public.
