As we have reported, Alderwoman Monet Wilson has taken a number of PPP Loans according to data released by the US Small Business Administration. The program was designed to help businesses stay afloat during the covid-19 pandemic and paid for by taxpayers. Wilson purported to operate 3 for profit sole proprietorship entities and a non-profit operated from her home. She confirmed this by a statement on her website. The amount of loans and money is even greater according to SBA data. Wilson never obtained a business license and did not declare any of her businesses on her candidate statement of economic interest.
Further inspection of the SBA records shows a total of 5 PPP loans which extended $247,000 to Wilson implying she claimed $1,186,390 in payroll expenses in 2019. All of this involves businesses claimed to have been in operation from her single family home.
One of the sole proprietorships for which Wilson took in $16,000 from the program was a graphic design sole proprietorship. Wilson’s statement on her website claimed this was actually related to MC Custom Apparel. Further inspection of the SBA data shows MC Custom Apparel is an S Type Corporation, not a sole proprietorship. The data shows a separate application was submitted in relation to MC Custom Apparel.
Monet’s statement on her website also referred to her having a non-profit entity for which she took out a PPP loan. There were actually two non-profit entities for which she received CARES Act funding. One was an entity entitled “1976” for which we could not locate a form 990 filing in the IRS database. The other is a laudible and purposeful non-profit entity, Tomorrow’s Youth Foundation. Wilson took a loan claiming 2 employees who each made $72k per year for that entity.
The amount of for profit and non-profit business is challenging to tie together. A graph of the SBA data is helpful.
The Payroll Protection Program was implemented by the federal government designed to help small business support their employees in the face of a disruptive pandemic. It is funded by taxpayers, meaning you.
Sitting Alderwoman and now candidate for higher office Wilson should explain the voluminous loans. She should also explain why a FOIA request to Calumet City indicated not a single business license. Such discussion should also address why she never manifested a single business on her required statement of economic interest.
Sources:
https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program/monet-wilson-calumet-city-il
https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program/1976-calumet-city-il
https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program/mc-custom-apparel-calumet-city-il
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/tax-exempt-organization-search