Battle Creek business agrees to civil settlement in PPP loan dispute
A Battle Creek manufacturer has agreed to pay over $2.2 million in civil fines to resolve allegations involving the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program loan program.
Andrew Birge, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan, made the announcement this week regarding the case of Rosler Metal Finishing USA LLC, also known as Rosler USA. The allegation involved falsely obtaining a second loan through the PPP program when the company was not eligible for those additional funds.
The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act against Rosler USA. No determination of liability was issued in the case.
"The Paycheck Protection Program was intended only for those who met the eligibility criteria," Birge said in his prepared statement.
The PPP was an emergency loan program created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020 and expanded by the later American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The intent was to help eligible businesses cover payroll costs and other specified expenses amid the economic disruptions of the time.
The Small Business Administration guaranteed PPP loans, which included a forgiveness clause under certain conditions.
More specifically, the "second-draw" loan criteria was limited to a company and its affiliates with a total of no more than 300 employees. That's the circumstances under which Rosler USA faced scrutiny, as it applied for a second-draw PPP loan in January 2021 and received the $1,265.035, according to the press release.
The SBA later forgave the loan.
But the United States later claimed Rosler USA was ineligible for the second loan because the company and its affiliates had over 300 employees; furthermore, that it falsely certified in its PPP loan application that it had fewer than 300 employees and omitted that it had shared ownership with other businesses.
"The settlement in this matter reflects SBA's commitment to identifying and pursuing those who perpetrated fraud on the Paycheck Protection Program. Such fraud unconscionably undermines critical pandemic relief, and SBA continues its enhanced efforts to uncover such misconduct and recover those damages," Wendell Davis, General Counsel at the U.S. Small Business Administration said in the press release.
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