LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Southern California Public Radio is likely to receive records revealing the names of all Paycheck Protection Program loan recipients and the amount of their loans -- information at the center of a lawsuit against the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to court papers.
The media company's suit, filed in July in Los Angeles federal court, seeks disclosure, under the Freedom of Information Act, of the PPP information.
A stay was granted Monday pending the resolution of two earlier-filed actions in the District of Columbia district court concerning the same records that SCPR seeks.
On Thursday, the District of Columbia court ordered the SBA to release the withheld loan data by Nov. 19, according to a notice filed with the court in Los Angeles and obtained Friday.
The radio network, which includes Pasadena-based public radio station KPCC-FM (89.3) and the online news site LAist, believes the public is entitled to know “how the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars invested in the PPP have been spent,” according to the complaint.
Because of the “taxpayers' huge investment in the PPP, revelations that large corporations have applied for, received, and in some cases returned under public pressure funds received under this program, and representations by the government that the PPP is intended to help small businesses, it is of paramount importance that the requested information be disclosed,” the suit states.
The complaint alleges the SBA failed to comply with statutory deadlines imposed by FOIA regulations as well as its own, and has unlawfully withheld PPA records from SCPR.