Thousands of loans worth $312 million were granted to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced Saturday.
DOGE, which is headed by Elon Musk, said it had discovered that the Small Business Administration (SBA) had granted nearly 5,600 loans for $312 million to “borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan.” The loans were granted in 2020 and 2021.
“While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used an SSN with the incorrect name,” the agency wrote in a post to X.
DOGE did not say what the loans were used for, although the agency said it would work with the SBA “to solve this problem this week.”
DOGE made the announcement along with another post to X from Tuesday, when the agency revealed the SBA had also issued 3,095 loans for $333 million in 2020 and 2021 to borrowers over 115 years old.
“In 2020-2021, the SBA issued 3,095 loans, including PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan), for $333M to borrowers over 115 years old who were still marked as alive in the Social Security database. In one case, a 157 years old individual received $36k in loans,” the agency wrote.
The discoveries come as DOGE continues its mission of rooting out fraud and wasteful spending in the federal government.
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