SEC Is Scrutinizing Public Companies Granted Virus Relief Funds

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has started an inquiry into publicly traded companies that received coronavirus stimulus funds from the federal government, scrutinizing whether representations they made in loan applications were consistent with their disclosures to investors in securities filings, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The commission’s enforcement division in recent weeks has sent letters to some companies that received funding from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, asking for information about how the funds were being used and for copies of loan applications, these people said.

Revelations that large chunks of public funds intended ...