{"id":167715,"date":"2026-02-07T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167715\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T04:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:00:10","slug":"sba-suspends-100000-plus-california-borrowers-over-9b-suspected-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167715\/","title":{"rendered":"SBA suspends 100,000-plus California borrowers over $9B suspected fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Friday it had suspended more than 100,000 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/west\/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">California borrowers<\/a> amid suspected fraud, with the alleged abuse totaling nearly $9 billion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the agency suspended 111,620 California borrowers linked to suspected fraudulent activity across SBA pandemic-era loan programs. Those borrowers received 118,489 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans totaling more than $8.6 billion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once again, the Trump SBA is taking decisive action to deliver accountability in a state whose unaccountable welfare policies have created a culture of fraud and abuse at the expense of law-abiding taxpayers and small business owners,&#8221; Loeffler said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/house-republicans-call-minnesota-fraud-probe-tip-iceberg-more-blue-states-face-scrutiny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">HOUSE REPUBLICANS CALL MINNESOTA FRAUD PROBE &#8216;TIP OF THE ICEBERG&#8217; AS MORE BLUE STATES FACE SCRUTINY<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sba-administrator-kelly-loeffler.jpg\" alt=\"SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>The Small Business Administration suspended more than 100,000 California borrowers in response to nearly $9 billion in suspected pandemic-era loan fraud, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced Friday.\u00a0 (Bill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today, we announced we have suspended nearly 112,000 borrowers tied to at least $9 billion in suspected fraud,&#8221; she said. &#8220;This staggering number represents the most significant crackdown on those who defrauded pandemic programs, and it illuminates the scale of corruption that the Biden administration tolerated for years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Loeffler referenced the Trump administration\u2019s fraud crackdown in another blue state, saying, &#8220;As we did <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/minnesota-fraud-exposed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">in Minnesota<\/a>, we are actively working with federal law enforcement to identify the criminals who defrauded American taxpayers, hold them to account and recoup the stolen funds.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As we continue our state-by-state work, our message is clear: Pandemic-era fraudsters will not get a pass under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/education\/administration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">this administration<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/gop-senators-launch-task-force-crack-down-fraud-tied-minnesota-scandal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">GOP SENATORS LAUNCH TASK FORCE TO CRACK DOWN ON FRAUD TIED TO MINNESOTA SCANDAL<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kelly-kelly-loeffler.png\" alt=\"SBA chief Kelly Loeffler listens during. a news conferences in Washington, DC\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the Small Business Administration, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2025.\u00a0 (Kent Nishimura\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes after the SBA said last month it had suspended 6,900 Minnesota borrowers after uncovering what it said was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/house-oversight-committee-widens-investigation-alleged-minnesota-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">widespread suspected fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The agency previously reviewed thousands of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/small-business-under-siege\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">PPP and EIDL loans approved<\/a> in Minnesota, identifying nearly $400 million in potentially fraudulent loans tied to borrowers.<\/p>\n<p>That suspected activity included 7,900 PPP and EIDL loans approved during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Loeffler.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kelly-loeffler-capitol-hill-jan.-22-2025-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Small Business Administration administrator Kelly Loeffler\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the agency suspended more than 100,000 California borrowers linked to suspected fraud across pandemic loan programs. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/p>\n<p>The SBA previously said at least $2.5 million in PPP and EIDL funds issued during the pandemic era were connected to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/somali-immigrant-community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Somali-linked fraud scheme<\/a> based in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Friday it had suspended&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,73020,3431,6492,4519],"class_list":{"0":"post-167715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-corruption-crime","12":"tag-crime-world","13":"tag-investigations","14":"tag-small-business-under-siege"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}