SBA chief Kelly Loeffler takes fraud crackdown state by state as affordability worries grow
Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler says the Trump administration has uncovered $200 billion in COVID-era fraud and is now moving to cut off suspected fraudsters from federal programs one state at a time, starting with California, where more than 111,000 borrowers have already been suspended from SBA services.
$200 billion and counting
Trump signed a presidential action on March 16 establishing a new task force to eliminate fraud, directing the use of “all available resources and authorities to fight fraud, close loopholes, enforce eligibility rules, and protect benefits for eligible Americans.” Loeffler sits on the task force alongside 10 cabinet members, with Vice President JD Vance providing leadership.
By Wednesday, the Daily Caller reported that the task force had already identified almost $6.3 billion in government contracts awarded to potentially fraudulent businesses. That figure sits inside a much larger universe of suspected abuse. Loeffler told the DCNF the administration has found “$200 billion in the aggregate from just COVID-era fraud.”
She framed the effort in terms any taxpayer can understand:
“I mean, here we are amid tax season, and Americans are being asked to send their tax bills. And so what Americans want to know is that when they submit a payment to the IRS, is that money is going to be used, appropriately within the federal government. Well, that has not happened for too long.”
That last line, “that has not happened for too long”, is a polite way of saying the federal government spent years writing checks it never bothered to verify. The pandemic-era lending programs, rushed into existence under extraordinary circumstances, became some of the largest vehicles for fraud in American history. And the prior administration, in Loeffler’s telling, had no interest in cleaning up the mess.
The SBA announced in February that it had suspended 111,620 borrowers in California over suspected fraud tied to pandemic-era lending programs. Those borrowers, Loeffler said, “will no longer be eligible for SBA services.” That is not a slap on the wrist. It is a direct consequence, loss of access to the government-backed capital that small businesses rely on.
California was not the only state in the crosshairs. Back in January, the agency confirmed it was suspending 6,900 Minnesota borrowers over alleged “fraudulent activity” relating to pandemic-era loans. The administration has been vocal about holding Democratic state leaders accountable for the conditions that allowed such fraud to flourish.
Loeffler made clear the effort would not stop at two states: “We will be going state by state. And I’m grateful to President Trump’s leadership in this regard, because under the Biden administration, they tried to sweep it under the rug and even forgive the fraudulent actors.”
Which states come next remains an open question. But the pattern is unmistakable: the administration is building a public, state-level record of pandemic fraud, and the political geography of that record skews heavily toward states governed by Democrats during the spending spree.
In Minnesota, the fraud scandal has taken on its own political life. Former Governor Tim Walz has faced pointed questions about oversight failures on his watch, even as he has rallied supporters at the state capitol while billions in alleged fraud remain under investigation.
School Shooting Leaves Teacher, 3 Students Dead and 20 Others Injured, Suspect Believed to Be 8th Grader
At least four people are dead and 20 people are injured after a school shooting in Turkey.
The incident happened on Wednesday, April 15, at Ayser Çalık Middle School located in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, according to Turkish Radio and Television (TRT), CNN Turk and Milliyet, which cited authorities.
First responders and police teams were dispatched to the school after receiving a call following reports of gunfire in front of the school, Milliyet reported. According to initial reports, a suspect allegedly fired his gun into the air of the schoolyard before moving into the school.
Kahramanmaraş Governor Mükerrem Ünlüer announced in a press conference that the attacker was identified as an eighth grade student at Ayser Çalık Middle School, and he entered the school carrying weapons —five guns and seven magazines — in his backpack, per CNN Turk and Milliyet.
