[New York Post] Hundreds of publicly traded companies appear to be keeping government-backed loans meant to help small businesses weather the coronavirus crisis.Only 68 of the 424 public firms that disclosed receiving $1.3 billion in loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program had pledged to return them as of early Monday morning, according to regulatory filings compiled by data-analysis company FactSquared.
That suggests 356, or roughly 84 percent, of those companies are holding onto the money amid the Trump administration’s pledge to crack down on abuse of the $659 billion program. Officials gave firms until May 18 to repay loans without facing further scrutiny.
Some 76 of those companies had enough cash and cash equivalents on hand to cover operating expenses until at least June, a Reuters analysis found.
The firms keeping loans include upscale restaurant operator ONE Group Hospitality, which got $18.3 million from the pool of money meant to help small businesses cover payroll and overhead costs, FactSquared’s database showed. There’s also Hallador Energy, a coal firm that got $10 million, and high-end hotel company Sotherly Hotels, which got nearly $10.4 million, according to the data.