Multi-National With Only 12% U.S. Workforce Gets Nearly $9M In Small Business Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The latest Securities and Exchange Commission filings show 10 additional publicly traded companies secured more than $33 million in SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds meant for struggling small businesses on Main Street, including at least two businesses with more than 500 employees. To date, more than 500 publicly traded companies have been awarded PPP funds, totaling more than $1.5 billion in taxpayer assistance.

Among the latest beneficiaries is Horizon Global Corp, a producer of towing equipment which received $8.7 million in small business support despite having approximately 3,600 employees (just 12% of which are in the United States) and paying their executives over $10 million in compensation in 2019. The company says they may return the loan, but is seeking guidance on whether they can keep it.

“Once again a large company with substantial foreign operations has received millions of dollars in small business assistance while Main Street businesses continue to suffer,” said Derek Martin, spokesman for Accountable.US. “As Congress begins to conduct oversight of the federal response to this public health crisis, it should make sure to investigate why so many big businesses received this money, while true Mom-and-Pops faced bureaucratic slowdowns or outright denials from banks around the country.”

These filings were compiled as part of an ongoing tracking project by government watchdog Accountable.US. TrumpBailouts.org documents the billion-dollar corporations and other large companies that have received taxpayer assistance under the CARES Act, and what advantages and assets they had going into the CODID-19 crisis that most small businesses could never access.

AMONG THE LATEST PUBLICLY-TRADED PPP RECIPIENTS:

LOAN DATE	COMPANY	STATE	LOAN AMOUNT	MOST RECENT EMPLOYEE COUNT
4/16/20	urban-gro, Inc.	CO	$1,020,600	37
4/21/20	Horizon Global Corp	MI	$8,700,000	3,600
5/4/20	LM Funding America, Inc.	FL	$186,000	9
5/15/20	Muscle Maker, Inc.	TX	$866,300	129
5/13/20	Sharing Services Global Corporation	TX	$1,040,400	66
4/27/20	Sonnet Biotherapeutics Holdings, Inc.	NJ	$2,100,000	587
April 2020	Apple Hospitality REIT Inc*	VA	$18,000,000	67
5/4/20	Pareteum Corporation	NY	$551,800	138
4/21/20	Feel the World, Inc.	CO	$390,415	30
5/4/20	Byrna Technologies Inc.	MA	$190,000	14

*Company has indicated it will return the money.

Previously controversial PPP grantees include a foreign-owned uranium mining corporation with ties to the Trump administration, at least two companies that market their ability to ship U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas, major luxury hotel chains, a fashion model agency, and even the L.A. Lakers.

SMALL BUSINESSES LEFT BEHIND: The Trump SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program has been bungled since day one, offering red tape and rejection to struggling small business owners while rolling out the red carpet for large publicly-traded companies that have access to resources average shops do not. Despite the administration’s claims these issues of access have been fixed, a shocking new academic report estimates over 100,000 small businesses have permanently closed since the pandemic took off in March. Meanwhile, well over 500 publicly-traded firms or conflicted companies – some worth more than $100 million – have walked away with over a billion and a half dollars in taxpayer money. It’s no wonder the Trump administration has shied away from transparency in this process.

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