No scandal here since Newsom didn't write or vote on the PPP legislation and according to the article:
"In 2018, Gov. Newsom placed his ownership interests in the PlumpJack Group into a blind trust. This means he would have no knowledge or role in the company's business decisions made during his time in office."
Which is exactly what a politician should do.
Not to mention the businesses in question are restaurants and bars which are exactly the kind of businesses that should have received ppp loans in exchange for continuing to pay salaries to employees rather than laying them off.
> The average small business loan for California companies retaining 14 employees was roughly $128,000. Yet, the PlumpJack entity Villa Encinal Partners LP - that according to SBA data also retained 14 employees - received more than seven times that amount at $918,720.
> ABC7's analysis found the only other California winery that received close to the same loan amount as Villa Encinal Partners LP is Oak Knoll Farming Corp, which retained 79 employees - more than five times as many as Villa.
> The average number of employees retained for every California winery that received more than $900,000 worth of PPP funding is 148.
> Another company affiliated with the PlumpJack Group is Balboa Cafe Partners LP that received a $506,799 loan on April 29, 2020. A commercial data firm estimated in June 2020 that Balboa Café Partners employed seven individuals, but SBA data associated with their loan application states they retained 55 employees.
Pretty interesting. Also of note is how many of PlumpJack's businesses received PPP Loans when thousands of other small businesses couldn't even get a response on their applications...
"In 2018, Gov. Newsom placed his ownership interests in the PlumpJack Group into a blind trust. This means he would have no knowledge or role in the company's business decisions made during his time in office."
Which is exactly what a politician should do.
Not to mention the businesses in question are restaurants and bars which are exactly the kind of businesses that should have received ppp loans in exchange for continuing to pay salaries to employees rather than laying them off.