Reacting to news that the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association received a coronavirus aid loan meant for small businesses, U.S. Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday all such loans over $2 million will be audited. Some companies that applied for the loans may be criminally charged, he said.
“I think that’s outrageous,” Mnuchin told CNBC, in response to a question about the Lakers receiving a loan worth $4.6 million from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $349 billion fund meant to prop up small businesses struggling under mandatory shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic. A second round of PPP funding was released earlier this week.
