Three companies settle allegations they applied for and received pandemic related loans that were illegal

Seattle – Three different companies settled allegations they applied for and accepted millions of dollars in pandemic loans for which they were not qualified, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. The companies have agreed to pay back a total of more than $5.4 million in restitution and penalties. The settlements are not an admission of guilt.

The first settlement payment is from Lotte Duty Free Guam LLC. A division of Lotte Hotel Holdings USA LLC. According to the settlement agreement, Lotte Duty Free Guam LLC received two Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. In its application for the loans, Lotte -which operates a duty-free store at the Guam airport, claimed to have fewer than 500 employees making them eligible for the loans.  However, the Guam store is part of a much larger company which has too many employees to qualify for the loans. Lotte will pay $3,437,549 to resolve the matter.

An Everett, Washington company that is a subsidiary of multinational aerospace conglomerate UMBRAGROUP S.p.A will pay $1,424,996 to resolve allegations it had too many employees to qualify for the SBA PPP loan it received.

Finally, Podworks Corporation will pay the government $632,958 for an SBA PPP loan the company received. In April 2025, a relator filed suit in U.S. District Court in Seattle alleging that Podworks did not qualify for the PPP loan because some of its business involves the sale of cannabis which is illegal under federal law. The settlement resolves the allegation.

These civil settlements include the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery.

These resolutions were negotiated by Assistant United States Attorneys Matt Waldrop and Kayla Stahman.