Billions In 9/11 Loans Botched

Some Businesses Unaware They Were Getting Terror-Recovery Cash

(CBS/AP) 
Previous media reports found that terrorism recovery loans went to a South Dakota radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops in various locations.

Meanwhile, small businesses near Ground Zero in New York couldn't get the assistance they desperately sought.

Stewart explains that some of the flaws in the program simply had to do with procedure. To make the loans work, the SBA cut the fee it charges banks for money under a special disaster relief program. Then it left it up to the banks to determine who should qualify for the loans.

SBA Administrator Hector Barreto put the best face on the findings, saying the audit did not find that loan recipients were unqualified for the program, although he did note that lender documentation could have been better.

His statement, however, was contradicted by the chairwoman of the Senate committee that oversees the SBA program.

"These initial findings are troubling and the committee ... will continue with its own investigation of the STAR program to get at the truth and inform Congress for the future," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.

Snowe, who heads the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said if abuses are discovered, "many questions must be answered by the parties involved, beginning with: How and why was this allowed to happen?"

The inspector general's report said the program ran into trouble after lenders initially did not participate because requirements were unclear.

SBA officials then embarked on a vigorous marketing campaign, and lenders interpreted their remarks to mean "that every small business could claim it was somehow impacted by the attacks, and therefore, eligible to receive a STAR loan," the report said.

"We believe these communications were intended to, and did, send a message to lenders that the Agency would not question lender eligibility determinations," the inspector general reported.

The Small Business Administration has announced it will accept most of the audit’s recommendations, and has alerted lenders that it will not honor its guarantee on defaulted loans that are missing the required documentation.