Politics
Strand Bookstore, owned by Sen. Ron Wyden's wife, to repay $1.5M in pandemic loans
Nancy Bass Wyden's New York City bookstore will pay nearly $1.5 million after receiving a second-round Paycheck Protection Program loan that a December 2020 law barred businesses owned by members of Congress or their spouses from obtaining. She says the error was unintentional and the funds were returned.
The New York City bookstore owned by Nancy Bass Wyden, wife of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, has agreed to pay the federal government nearly $1.5 million after it received a pandemic-era loan that the program's rules barred it from obtaining, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia.
Strand Book Store received about $1.7 million in the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal relief effort Congress created in 2020 to keep businesses and their workers afloat during the pandemic. That initial round did not exclude businesses owned by members of Congress or their immediate families.
But a December 2020 law expanding the program explicitly prohibited businesses from receiving a second round of funding if a member of Congress or their spouse held a significant direct or indirect stake. Despite that restriction, Bass Wyden's bookstore received more than $930,000 in the second round, according to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
"The Paycheck Protection Program was created to save American jobs, not to enrich those who aren't eligible for taxpayer-funded relief, especially the wife of a U.S. Senator," Pirro said in a statement.
Pirro's office said Bass Wyden certified at the time that she met the qualifications for the loan, a claim prosecutors described as "knowingly and materially false."
In a statement, Bass Wyden said federal laws and regulations changed rapidly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She said her bookstore's accountant and the bank administering the loan were unaware of the new rules concerning spouses when the second-draw application was processed.
"The mistake was unintentional, and the funds were returned as soon as the issue came to our attention. We regret the oversight and recognize the importance of complying with all applicable laws and regulations," she wrote. "We hope this matter will be viewed objectively and in its proper context, with the understanding that the application of justice should always be fair, impartial and free from political considerations."
Hank Stern, a spokesperson for the senator, said in a brief statement that Wyden and his wife do not discuss Bass Wyden's business and that he had no involvement in the loan or the agreement with the federal government.
The case highlights the unusual position of family-owned businesses tied to members of Congress, who are barred from receiving certain federal relief dollars. The Strand, a landmark independent bookstore in Manhattan, has been owned by the Bass family for generations.