SBA halts Minnesota grants and suspends 6,900 borrowers over suspected fraud

The statement is not 100% exact but close enough for a reasonable person (e.g., claimed 70% vs. actual 65%). Learn more in Methodology.

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SBA has stopped all annual grant payments to Minnesota and formally suspended 6,900 state borrowers from all further SBA loan programs based on approximately $400 million in suspected fraudulent activity.

Source summary

The article announces that the Trump administration will create a new Department of Justice division dedicated to national fraud enforcement, led by an Assistant Attorney General who will coordinate multi-district and multi-agency fraud investigations and recommend policy changes. Alongside this structural change, the fact sheet details a broad federal crackdown on alleged fraud in Minnesota across programs such as Medicaid, childcare, housing assistance, SNAP, and unemployment insurance. Multiple federal agencies, including DOJ, FBI, DHS, HHS, SBA, HUD, DOL, and USDA, are described as deploying investigators, freezing or pausing payments, and pursuing prosecutions, with particular focus on cases linked to federally funded benefits and programs. The document highlights extensive enforcement actions already taken, including hundreds of arrests, subpoenas, and suspensions of borrowers and payments, and notes that similar measures affect several other states identified as noncompliant or high-risk for fraud.

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Latest fact check

Available evidence supports most, but not all, elements of the statement.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced that 6,900 Minnesota borrowers tied to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans had been suspended over suspected fraud involving roughly $400 million, and that these individuals would be banned from all SBA loan programs, including disaster loans, going forward. Multiple reputable outlets, citing her public statement, confirm the 6,900-borrower figure, the roughly $400 million in loans, and the comprehensive ban on future SBA loan participation. Separately, Loeffler sent a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz stating that the SBA was halting about $5.5 million in annual federal funding to SBA “resource partners” in Minnesota—SBDCs, Women’s Business Centers, microloan intermediaries and related grants—pending further review, effectively freezing those annual SBA grant streams to the state’s resource-partner network. However, contemporaneous reporting characterizes this as a halt to $5.5 million in annual SBA funding to Minnesota resource partners, not as a categorical halt to every possible form of SBA grant or funding the state might receive, so the phrase “has halted all annual grant payments to Minnesota” slightly overstates the breadth of the action.

Verdict: Close. The description of suspending 6,900 Minnesota borrowers over about $400 million and banning them from all future SBA loan programs aligns with on-the-record statements and reporting, while the claim that SBA halted “all annual grant payments to Minnesota” is somewhat overstated compared with the documented halt of approximately $5.5 million in annual SBA resource-partner funding.

Sources

Timeline

Update · Jan 09, 2026, 03:46 AMClose
Available evidence supports most, but not all, elements of the statement. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced that 6,900 Minnesota borrowers tied to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans had been suspended over suspected fraud involving roughly $400 million, and that these individuals would be banned from all SBA loan programs, including disaster loans, going forward. Multiple reputable outlets, citing her public statement, confirm the 6,900-borrower figure, the roughly $400 million in loans, and the comprehensive ban on future SBA loan participation. Separately, Loeffler sent a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz stating that the SBA was halting about $5.5 million in annual federal funding to SBA “resource partners” in Minnesota—SBDCs, Women’s Business Centers, microloan intermediaries and related grants—pending further review, effectively freezing those annual SBA grant streams to the state’s resource-partner network. However, contemporaneous reporting characterizes this as a halt to $5.5 million in annual SBA funding to Minnesota resource partners, not as a categorical halt to every possible form of SBA grant or funding the state might receive, so the phrase “has halted all annual grant payments to Minnesota” slightly overstates the breadth of the action. Verdict: Close. The description of suspending 6,900 Minnesota borrowers over about $400 million and banning them from all future SBA loan programs aligns with on-the-record statements and reporting, while the claim that SBA halted “all annual grant payments to Minnesota” is somewhat overstated compared with the documented halt of approximately $5.5 million in annual SBA resource-partner funding.
Original article · Jan 08, 2026
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