Many of the companies and organizations getting loans from the Paycheck Protection Program – billed by the SBA as a lifeline for struggling, small companies — aren't what anyone would think of as small businesses.
Among them:
Large restaurant chains, including Applebee's, P.F. Chang's, Ruby Tuesday and TGI Fridays, got loans between $5 million and $10 million.
The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, a luxury resort owned by West Virginia's billionaire governor James Justice, got a loan between $5 million and $10 million.
Musician and fashion designer Kanye West's company, Yeezy LLC, got a loan for at least $2 million.
Religious organizations, including Roman Catholic dioceses in several states, the Church of Scientology and megachurch Willow Creek received loans ranging from $150,000 to several million dollars.
A long list of well-connected Washington think tanks, law firms and lobbyists got loans, including Americans for Tax Reform, founded by Grover Norquist, a longtime opponent of federal spending. The organization got a loan between $150,000 and $300,000. Also on the list were businesses connected to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
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