A software company and a robotics business, both headquartered in San Francisco, have agreed to pay a total of nearly $7 million to settle allegations they violated the rules of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern California said the companies are IGEL Technology Corp., a multinational software company, and SoftBank Robotics America, Inc., a unit of the Japanese multinational investment holding company SoftBank Group Corp.
IGEL will pay more than $3 million and SoftBank Robotics America will pay more than $3.5 million more to settle allegations they knowingly violated the False Claims Act when they received and retained PPP loans.
The loans were created in March 2020 to provide emergency financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forgivable loans were intended for small businesses struggling to pay employees and other business expenses.
Both companies sought and received forgiveness for the loans when, in reality, the companies exceeded the size standards when including affiliated entities, plus their multinational parent companies.
