‘Potentially improper’: SBA won’t try to recover erroneous COVID grants to restaurants

Topline: The Small Business Administration won’t try to recover most of the potentially improper grants it gave to restaurants during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Dec. 18 report from the agency’s inspector general.

Key facts: Another audit from 2024 found that large chunks of the money were approved even though SBA employees didn’t check whether the restaurant was eligible for the grant. The government didn’t verify how much money each restaurant lost from the pandemic, instead relying on self-reported numbers.