Colorado Travel Company Pays $3 Million to Settle Allegations That It Unlawfully Obtained a Loan from the Paycheck Protection Program

DENVER - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced that Group Voyagers, Inc. has paid $3 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by unlawfully applying for and receiving a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program when the company was not an eligible small business.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was an emergency loan program established by Congress in March 2020 under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). It was intended to support small businesses struggling to pay employees and other business expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only small businesses were eligible for PPP loans. Whether an applicant qualified as a small business was determined, in part, by assessing the number of employees of the business and of all its affiliates. When applying for PPP loans, businesses were required to certify the truthfulness and accuracy of all information provided in their loan applications, including their number of employees.

Group Voyagers is a tour operator headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Group Voyagers and its foreign affiliates provide travel packages marketed under the Globus family of brands. The settlement resolves allegations that Group Voyagers falsely represented on its PPP loan application that it had fewer than 300 employees. In fact, the company, along with its foreign affiliates, employed more than 300 individuals and thus was not an eligible small business.

The allegations were brought to the federal government's attention by a whistleblower through a False Claims Act action. The qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act allow a private party to file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of the recovery. The case is captioned United States ex rel. Verity Investigations LLC v. Group Voyagers, Inc., Civil Action No. 24-cv-01671-KAS (D. Colo.). The whistleblower will receive $375,000 in connection with the settlement.

The United States acknowledges that once the allegations were brought to the attention of Group Voyagers, Inc., the company fully cooperated with the investigation, quickly resolved the allegations, and took steps to improve its compliance program.

"Our office will aggressively enforce eligibility limitations that Congress imposes for participation in federal programs," said Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell. "When applying to participate in a federal program, companies must ensure that their applications are fully accurate and that they are eligible to participate in the program."

"Those who violate the False Claim Act by wrongfully pursuing and retaining SBA program funding will be held accountable," said Tim Larson, SBA Office of Inspector General's (OIG's) Western Region Assistant Special Agent in Charge. "This settlement demonstrates that unlawfully obtaining taxpayer dollars will not go unchecked. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney's Office, and our law enforcement partners for their support and dedication to pursuing justice in this case."

The claims against Group Voyagers, Inc. are allegations, and in agreeing to settle this matter, it did not admit to any liability.

This investigation was the result of a coordinated effort by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado and SBA OIG.