Jewish Voice for Peace agreed to pay $677,634—twice the $338,817 it obtained under the Paycheck Protection Act Program—to settle allegations that it received the loan, which was forgiven, fraudulently.
The anti-Israel nonprofit would have been required to repay three times the loan amount, $1,016,451, as well as “lost interest, along with civil penalties for each false certification made in the loan application and forgiveness application,” if it was found guilty of fraud, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The forgivable loan was part of the March 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which “authorized billions of dollars in forgivable loans to small businesses and other entities, including non-profit organizations, struggling to pay employees and other business expenses,” according to the Justice Department.
The program wasn’t open to those that “primarily engaged in political or lobbying activities,” and when Jewish Voice for Peace applied for the loan, it certified that it was not an “entity that is organized for research or for engaging in advocacy in areas such as public policy or political strategy or otherwise describes itself as a think tank in any public document,” per the department.
An investigation revealed that Jewish Voice for Peace did engage primarily in political activities, according to the Justice Department, which added that JVP “contends that any misstatements in this application were inadvertent.”
“The Paycheck Protection Act Program existed to help businesses survive a devastating global pandemic,” stated Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
“When business owners unfairly drain those funds—either by not reading the eligibility requirements or disregarding them—they put the entire program at risk,” Graves added. “In the end, those who are harmed are the businesses that actually qualified for and needed the money, and the taxpayers who funded the program.”
