The U.S. Attorney's Office for Arizona says a private country club has agreed to settle a civil fraud allegation over a loan that was forgiven under a 2020 COVID-19 stimulus bill.
During the pandemic, the Small Business Administration ran the Paycheck Protection Program that offered forgivable loans meant to keep workers on payrolls while the nation quarantined.
But federal prosecutors say Briarwood Country Club, Inc., near 135th Avenue and R H Johnson Boulevard, wasn’t actually eligible for the loan it applied for and received because the country club is organized as a nonprofit.
Briarwood’s new owners have agreed to pay about $630,000 over the next four years. They were not available to comment.
The settlement stems from a federal case filed by a Texas man on behalf of the government.
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The Analogs is a series of stories about people who make things by hand — and what those things tell us about those people.
