Anti-Zionist activist group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has agreed to pay $677,634 to settle allegations that it defrauded federal Coronavirus pandemic financial loan programs by stating on applications that it was not a political or lobbying entity, the District of Columbia US Attorney’s Office and US Small Business Administration announced on Tuesday.
JVP will be paying twice the amount it received for a $338,817 second-draw loan under the Paycheck Protection Act Program, created as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Disaster Relief Program to provide support to American citizens, businesses, and organizations suffering economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While under the CARES Act a non-profit is not eligible for a second draw loan if it is chiefly engaged in political or lobbying activities, JVP, a progressive Jewish activist group that advocates against Zionism and the State of Israel, certified in its loan application that it was not lobbying or “engaging in advocacy in areas such as public policy.”
The SBA and US Attorney Office said an investigation confirmed that JVP was primarily engaged in political activities. Recent political activities by JVP included organizing a letter campaign to members of Congress to enact an arms embargo against the state of Israel.
JVP reportedly contends that any alleged misstatements in its PPP loan application were inadvertent, and by settling it avoids potentially paying three-times the amount of the loan for allegedly violating the False Claims Act.
“The Paycheck Protection Act Program existed to help businesses survive a devastating global pandemic,” US Attorney Matthew Graves said in the statement. “When business owners unfairly drain those funds – either by not reading the eligibility requirements or disregarding them – they put the entire program at risk. 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.”
Whistleblowing
The settlement and federal investigation was the result of a whistleblower complaint by the Zionist Advocacy Center, which said on Facebook Tuesday that it was happy to announce that its “case against Jewish Voice for Peace was unsealed and settled.”
The US government called on other whistleblowers to contact the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud about any other potential COVID-19 government relief programs fraud.
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