Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz owned corporate stock in a company that received nearly $500,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans forgiven in 2020, but users online are claiming that he personally received PPP loan forgiveness without owning a company.
A Twitter post said: “Don’t forget, Matt Gaetz had $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven despite the fact that he doesn’t own a company. Why isn’t he being investigated for fraud?” (here). Similar examples can be seen on Facebook (here) and (here).
As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Gaetz is required to file annual Financial Disclosure Statements with the Clerk of the House (here). Financial Disclosure Statements can be accessed via a search engine on the Clerk of the House’s website (here).
Gaetz disclosed assets in a financial report filed in 2022 for the filing year 2021 (here). The report says that Gaetz owns $100,001 to $250,000 in corporate stock in Caregivers, Inc. based in Pensacola, Florida (page 2).
Gaetz’s previous report filed in 2021 for the filing year 2020 also lists stock in Caregivers, Inc. (page 2) (here).
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), which was created as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), includes a dashboard to search for all the PPP loans forgiven (here).
A search for Caregivers, Inc. on the PRAC PPP dashboard shows that it received $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven to cover payroll, which matches the amount in the social media posts (see the “PPP Details” section).
Gaetz is no longer a shareholder of Caregivers Inc., a Gaetz spokesperson told Reuters in a statement.
Caregivers, Inc. (now TLC Caregivers) told Reuters via phone that Gaetz is not currently affiliated with the company.
VERDICT
Missing context. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz did not personally receive $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven, but he owned stock in a company that received loan forgiveness during the pandemic.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.