Ernst Reveals Infamous Quality Learing Center Received Financial Support from the SBA

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is revealing that the Small Business Administration (SBA) paid more than $231,000 to Minnesota's infamous Quality Learing Center, which abruptly closed after being exposed as a front for fraud by YouTuber Nick Shirley, and paid approximately $4 million to 28 companies providing questionable personal care services in Ohio. As chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Ernst is directing the SBA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate each for potential fraud and to recover every cent that may have been stolen.

The Quality Learing Center, which is now abandoned, received $221,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and a $10,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) from the SBA, according to financial records Ernst accessed using USAspending.gov.

The 28 personal care billing companies in Ohio were among those recently highlighted by The Daily Wire for being located in largely abandoned buildings. Collectively, these companies, their owners, and their owners' other businesses received almost $3 million of 7(a) loans, about $2.5 million of PPP payments, and almost $600,000 in EIDL awards.

Download more photos of Senator Ernst here.

"Fraud is not a small business. In fact, it's a big business with scammers stealing $1.4 billion taxpayer dollars every single day," said Ernst. "Americans expect their tax dollars to be spent responsibly - not to bankroll criminal enterprises. While bureaucrats keep turning a blind eye to the rampant fraud, I'm putting investigators to work so we can recover every stolen penny and hold scammers accountable. Con artists across the country, and especially those at the Quality Learing Center, are soon going to lear the hard way that fraud no longer pays."

Read the letter here.

Background:

Ernst has long fought to root out government waste, fraud, and abuse, particularly within SBA's pandemic relief programs, successfully leading the Senate to pass her SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act extending the window for holding COVID fraudsters accountable and recovering taxpayers' hard-earned dollars.

After an estimated $9 billion or more was exposed in Minnesota fraud, Ernst worked to put safeguards in place to stop scams early and claw back any money ripped off from taxpayers with her Putting an N to Learing about Fraud Act.

Last month, Ernst unveiled a comprehensive anti-fraud legislative package, the Protecting American Taxpayers Act, that, if enacted, would recover stolen funds, protect taxpayer dollars, and stop fraudsters.

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