Bloom Firm Agrees to Pay $274,000 in PPP Fraud Settlement (1)

California’s The Bloom Firm PC and members of its senior management agreed to pay $274,000 to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by providing false information to the government under the Paycheck Protection Program, the Justice Department said.

The government alleged that the firm sought and obtained forgiveness of the firm’s first draw PPP loan by falsely certifying that the firm used loan funds for eligible payroll expenses, the DOJ’s Thursday announcement said.

The PPP was enacted as part of the CARES Act in March 2020 to provide emergency loans in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. ...