Businesses at properties owned by the Trump Organization and Kushner Cos. benefited from over 25 PPP loans worth $3.65 million, a new report says

• Businesses at properties owned by the Trump Organization and Jared Kushner's family received 25 Paycheck Protection Program loans, which amounted to $3.65 million, NBC News reported.
• The Treasury Department rolled out the program to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic.
• But the newly released data showed many larger companies received the emergency funds.
• "The notion that Kushner Companies somehow improperly benefited from CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans is completely untrue and amounts to nothing more than politically motivated nonsense," Christopher Smith, the company's general counsel, told Insider.

Businesses at properties belonging to the Trump Organization and Kushner Cos., owned by the family of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, benefited from the government's pandemic relief funds, according to an analysis by NBC News.

The companies received over 25 Paycheck Protection Program loans worth more than $3.65 million, the report said.

The newly released data from the Small Business Administration comes after NBC News and 10 other news companies sued the agency for the release of information on more than 5 million loans that were given out. Congress and the Trump administration earlier this year dedicated nearly $700 billion to PPP loans, which were intended to help small businesses stay afloat and retain workers during the economic disruption caused by COVID-19.

But since the Treasury Department's rollout in the spring, the program has drawn criticism over risks of fraud and abuse, and there were several instances of large companies applying for and benefiting from the emergency funds.

A Washington Post analysis on Tuesday showed that more than half of the relief money went to just 5% of recipients. National food chains such as Uno Pizzeria & Grill, Boston Market, and Cava Mezze Grill, as well as law firms and churches, were among the hundreds of larger businesses that received the maximum amount of $10 million allowed under the program, The Post reported.

Fifteen of the Trump Organization- and Kushner Cos.-owned properties reported that they kept either one employee or no employees, or did not report at all how many workers were kept on their payrolls, according to NBC News.

Two tenants at Trump Tower in New York received a PPP loan of over $100,000, NBC News reported. Still, they kept only three jobs. Similarly, four tenants at 666 5th Avenue, which is helmed by Kushner Cos., got more than $204,000 but held on to only half a dozen jobs, NBC News said.

The Triomphe Restaurant at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City got a $2,164,543 loan, according to NBC News. The business didn't retain any workers and subsequently shut down.

Meanwhile, LB City Inc., a company at the Kushner family's New Jersey Bungalow Hotel, retained 155 jobs after acquiring a loan of over $505,500, NBC News reported.

"The notion that Kushner Companies somehow improperly benefited from CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans is completely untrue and amounts to nothing more than politically motivated nonsense," Christopher Smith, the company's general counsel, told Insider in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

He added: "Exactly two Kushner Companies' hotel operations affiliates received PPP loans. Every provision of the PPP program has been comprehensively abided with respect to each of the two loans — and every penny of the funds received from the program was utilized to fund employee payroll and benefits costs to maintain jobs imperiled by the COVID pandemic and associated lockdown measures."

The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.