Angela Styles Quoted in The National Law Journal on New Guidance for Paycheck Protection Program Borrowers
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Akin Gump government contracts partner Angela Styles has been quoted in The National Law Journal’s “Compliance Hot Spots” column looking at new guidance given to those who received coronavirus relief loans as part of the Paycheck Protection Program.
The article states that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently warned that audits would be performed on all borrowers that received more than $2 million in loans. In addition, the article says, he threatened criminal prosecution could await companies and executives found to have falsely certified that they needed emergency funds to keep their businesses afloat.
There is, however, NLJ reports, a so-called “safe harbor” period to return coronavirus relief money. The Small Business Administration also issued further guidance that those with loans of less than $2 million will be deemed to have certified their need for that funding in good faith.
“The new guidance was generally met with relief for all loan applications,” said Styles. “It was fairly obvious that the earlier guidance on access to capital created a chilling effect that both slowed down the applications and resulted in many companies deciding the loan was simply not worth the effort, so they gave it back.”
