WASHINGTON — Almost 12 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans have been handed out to businesses across the U.S. since April 2020. They went to all kinds of bars, restaurants offices and more. But claims about where the money went can spread quickly online.
An account with tens of thousands of followers claimed a U.S. representative took a piece of the pie, so Verify researchers dug into the facts.
THE QUESTION
Did U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert's restaurant receive $233,305 in Paycheck Protection Program loans?
THE SOURCES
- U.S. Small Business Administration PPP loan recipient data
THE ANSWER
No, Boebert's restaurant Shooters Grill did not receive a PPP loan.
WHAT WE FOUND
Podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen sent a tweet out to his 419k followers on July 10 that made the false claim that Boebert's restaurant received a $233,305 PPP check. Cohen has since deleted the tweet after realizing it was false, but it had already been retweeted almost 20k times and shared by other accounts.
Rep. Boebert herself took to Twitter to tell the world she had not taken any PPP loans.
Verify researchers downloaded and sifted through the U.S. Small Business Administration's large amounts of data on PPP loan recipients, and Boebert's Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado is not listed. But, there are plenty of other restaurants by the same or similar name which appears to have caused the confusion.
A restaurant named Shooters Sports Grill just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio received a PPP loan of $233,305 in April 2020. The two restaurants are similar in name only and are a hefty 1,300 miles away from each other.
A restaurant group called Shooters on Washington LLP, which is based in Colorado, received an $802,437 PPP loan in February 2021. But again they are similar in name only; this group tracks back to a Pizza joint outside of Denver.
So we can Verify, no, Boebert's gun-themed restaurant in Rifle, CO did not receive a $233,305 PPP loan.