By Megan Pierce
Loevy & Loevy is taking on banks that discriminate against minority-owned businesses. Though some banks have been engaging in racially discriminatory practices for centuries, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has thrust these practices into the spotlight. Congress created the PPP to benefit all small businesses with taxpayer-funded loans during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which has shuttered businesses across the country. For the majority of small businesses, timely government assistance is the difference between temporary and permanent closure.
As part of the PPP, the government tasked banks with facilitating access to these desperately needed loans. Loevy & Loevy is investigating whether banks have been catering to wealthy and often white-owned businesses, effectively locking out smaller, minority-owned businesses fighting to survive the pandemic, all while receiving a windfall for handing out taxpayers’ money.
Banks should not profit from their efforts to steer taxpayer-funded assistance to a collection of businesses that are largely wealthy and white-owned during a national emergency. To combat the injustices we discover, Loevy & Loevy is undertaking to represent minority-owned businesses who have unsuccessfully applied for or attempted to apply for a loan through the PPP program. If you believe you have been discriminated against and want to know your rights, please contact us here.