Strand Book Store Agrees to $1.48 Million PPP Loan Settlement

Strand Book Store, Inc. agreed to pay $1,482,560 to settle federal civil claims involving a pandemic loan that prosecutors allege the New York bookstore was ineligible to receive.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced the agreement Tuesday, Nov. 3. The claims concern a $932,350 second-draw loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The settlement makes no determination of liability.

Strand applied for the loan in February 2021. Congress had added a rule in December 2020 barring second-draw PPP loans to businesses in which a member of Congress or their spouse owned at least 20%.

Nancy Bass Wyden, Strand’s controlling owner and the wife of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., certified on the application that no lawmaker or spouse held a direct or indirect controlling interest in the business. Federal prosecutors alleged that Bass Wyden knew the certification was false.

Congress created PPP in 2020 to help businesses retain workers during the pandemic. The program ended May 31, 2021.

The civil claims grew out of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Blockquote Inc. under the False Claims Act. Blockquote is expected to receive about $148,256 from the settlement.