Which specific PPP loans went to tenants at Trump Organization properties and were those loans forgiven?
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Executive summary
Reporting based on the SBA data release and newsroom analyses identified roughly 25 PPP loans made to businesses with addresses at Trump Organization and Kushner Properties, totaling about $3.65 million; notable among them was Triomphe Restaurant at Trump International Hotel & Tower, which shows a $2,164,543 loan [1] [2]. The public records released and cited by NBC, Business Insider, Newsweek and others establish the recipients and loan ranges, but the sources consulted do not provide definitive, per‑loan forgiveness status for those tenant loans—only that large numbers of PPP loans overall were later forgiven by the SBA [1] [3].
1. What the data actually showed: tenants, addresses and dollar ranges
When the Small Business Administration released the granular PPP dataset after litigation, investigative teams found more than two dozen loans tied to businesses located at properties owned by the Trump Organization and by Kushner Companies; NBC News’ analysis (reported by Business Insider and Newsweek) counted about 25 loans at those addresses, collectively amounting to roughly $3.65 million [1] [2] [4]. The dataset published loan recipient names, address information and dollar ranges, which allowed reporters to match borrowers to particular commercial addresses in Trump‑ or Kushner‑owned buildings [5] [1].
2. Specific named examples reporters highlighted
Among the specific examples picked out in reporting was the Triomphe Restaurant at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City, which the NBC dataset showed received $2,164,543 in PPP funds; reporting further noted that the business later closed and reported retaining no workers under the program [2]. Separately, media reporting flagged an entity called Irongate Azrep Bw LLC — a Trump Organization partner in a Waikiki hotel/residential project — as listed in PPP data in the $2 million to $5 million range, as covered by Time [6]. These named items illustrate how some larger loans surfaced in the release, though other tenant loans were much smaller [6] [2].
3. What reporters concluded about rent flows and “benefit” to landlords
Newsroom analyses emphasized the mechanics: PPP loan proceeds could be used for rent, meaning the federal funds flowed into landlords when tenants used the money according to forgiveness rules, which led to scrutiny when the landlords were politically connected property owners like the Trump Organization or Kushner Companies [1] [5]. NBC’s synopsis explicitly noted that tenants paying rent to Trump and Kushner properties benefited financially from the program, while also stating that the data release did not show the Trump Organization itself as a PPP borrower [1].
4. Forgiveness: program‑wide picture versus loan‑level transparency
The SBA and other official sources reported that a large number of PPP loans were forgiven (the SBA announced over 1.1 million loans forgiven totaling more than $100 billion as of an early January 2021 update), establishing that forgiveness was common across the program [3]. However, the public reporting referenced here does not provide confirmatory, loan‑by‑loan forgiveness outcomes for the specific tenant loans at Trump Organization addresses; the investigative pieces identified recipients and amounts but did not, in the provided sources, attach an authoritative forgiveness status to each named tenant loan [1] [5].
5. Alternative views and responses from implicated parties
Kushner Companies and the Trump Organization were quoted or represented in coverage disputing any impropriety: Kushner’s counsel called suggestions of improper benefit “politically motivated nonsense,” and the organizations stressed compliance with program rules and that funds were used for payroll where claimed [2] [4]. Meanwhile, watchdogs and some news analyses argued the pattern raises questions about program oversight and whether funds disproportionately benefited larger or connected businesses [5] [7].
6. Bottom line and reporting limits
The publicly released SBA PPP dataset and subsequent reporting identify specific tenants at Trump Organization and Kushner properties who received loans (about 25 loans totaling ~$3.65 million, with examples like Triomphe at $2,164,543 and Irongate Azrep in the $2–5M range), and they document that many PPP loans were later forgiven at scale; but the sources provided here do not document forgiveness status for each of those named tenant loans, so a definitive statement about whether each of those specific loans was forgiven cannot be made from this material alone [2] [6] [3] [1] [5].