At least two prominent organizations close to the Chinese Communist Party have taken advantage of U.S. government COVID-19 relief programs and have received money from the U.S Small Business Administration.
The Committee of 100, a Chinese Communist Party-linked organization based in New York, received over $330,000 of U.S. taxpayer COVID-19 relief funds, Intrepid Research has discovered.
A review of federal records at USASpending.gov shows that between 2020 and 2021, Committee of 100, Inc. was awarded one direct payment and three separate loans from the Small Business Administration.
On April 9, 2020, the Committee of 100 was awarded a Paycheck Protection Program loan of $78,324.40. On May 2, 2020, they received a $2,000 Economic Injury Disaster Grant. On June 25, 2020, a Disaster Assistance Loan was awarded worth $127,700. Finally, on January 23, 2021, another PPP Loan worth $125,849.28 was awarded.
A review of their 2020 Form 990 tax return with the IRS shows that the organization had net assets of over $13 million at the end of 2019.
Additional records at USASpending.gov, show that the Confucius Institute U.S. Center (CIUS), headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party’s Confucius Institutes in the United States, also applied for and received COVID-19 aid money from the Small Business Administration.
CIUS actually made two attempts through two separate funding programs to receive money. They were awarded money both times, however it appears one of the awards was rescinded soon after.
On June 29, 2020, CIUS was awarded a $4,000 direct payment through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance program.
On February 4, 2021, CIUS was awarded a $50,152 loan through the Paycheck Protection Loan Program. A revision to the loan was made in the negative for the same amount just days later on February 8, 2021 indicating that the loan was rescinded.
In an attempt to ascertain more details about these applications and transactions, Intrepid Research submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Small Business Administration for any documents, files, check images, or correspondence pertaining to these applications and awards. They denied our request, stating:
...the Small Business Administration does not release documents, correspondence, check images, or any other files related to Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications to anyone other than the business itself. Exemption 4 (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)) protects "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential." This exemption is intended to protect the interests of both the government and submitters of information. Information included in a business’ application is proprietary and confidential.
Confucius Center U.S. Center, Inc. incorporated as a non-profit organization on September 10, 2012 through the Washington, DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. The IRS granted them tax-exempt status December 22, 2014.