Billions In 9/11 Loans Botched

Some Businesses Unaware They Were Getting Terror-Recovery Cash

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2005 | by Christine Lagorio

(CBS/AP)  A golf course in Texas got $640,000 because people allegedly stayed home to watch television immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 instead of playing golf. A dry cleaner in Florida got $420,000 because his business closed for several days after the attacks. And a tanning salon in Las Vegas that got $583,000 because the bank decided tourism was down.

In a program to help businesses after Sept. 11, a high percentage of government-backed loans went to recipients who appeared to be unqualified, some of them unaware they were receiving terrorism-recovery money, investigators report.

The Small Business Administration's inspector general said Wednesday that agency officials were at fault for telling lenders in the program that their determinations would not be questioned.

The inspector general concluded that only nine loan recipients in the 59 cases sampled appeared to be qualified for disaster loans.

The program in question was launched shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks on the theory that small businesses especially would be hurt by the disruption to the nation's economy, CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart reports. In fact, President Bush repeatedly cited small business recovery in speeches to the public in the aftermath of the attacks.

On Oct. 26, 2001, Mr. Bush said: "We've got SBA, the Small Business Administration, helping small businesses in the areas impacted by the attacks from the evil ones."

But lenders who handed out billions of dollars in loans failed, 85 percent of the time, to document that recipients were actually hurt by the terrorism attacks and therefore eligible for the aid under the law, the report found.

The investigative report substantiates key findings of an Associated Press story in September that found similar problems with the SBA's Supplementary Terrorist Activity Relief program.

The report found:

Only two of 42 borrowers interviewed were aware they had obtained a STAR loan.

In cases where eligibility could not be established, 25 of 34 borrowers interviewed said they were not adversely affected by the terrorist attacks.

Thirty-six of 42 borrowers questioned said they were not asked, or could not recall if they were asked, about the impact of the attacks on their businesses.

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©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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