What did JP Morgan Chase & Co discover?
As per the news agency Bloomberg report, the incident tied to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program came to the fore after the bank noticed that suspicious amounts of money had been deposited into checking accounts owned by bank employees.
In fact, a mail to around 256,000 employees from JPMorgan left many surprised about the bank admitting to potentially illegal acts by some of its own while not exactly describing their action. The findings have revealed individual accounts received business aid which also led to the sacking of employees who it considers improperly tapped the money.
The bank sent a memo mentioned about the probing of whether any staffers helped people misuse aid programs including "Paycheck Protection Program Loans, unemployment benefits, and other government programs."
The bank has identified conduct by customers that are not aligned with the bank’s principles and "may even be illegal" and that some employees had fallen short on ethical standards, too.
The SBA warned banks on July 22 to be on the lookout for suspicious deposits or activity as part of the EIDL program. However, as per the report, the bank hasn't found evidence of wrongdoing by employees related to the PPP program.
What is the disaster loan program all about?
In view of the global pandemic, the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program had been expanded significantly to help small enterprises in need of a cash lifeline. Unlike with the Paycheck Protection Program, banks didn't issue or underwrite the disaster loans and grants. Instead, loans or grants came directly from the SBA.
However, there have been concerns regarding the fraud in the program, saying it identified more than $250 million in aid given to potentially ineligible recipients as well as $45.6 million in possibly duplicate payments. A Bloomberg Businessweek analysis of SBA data last month identified $1.3 billion in suspicious payments.