Under Trump Main Street Lending Program, Convicted Felon Louis A. DeNaples with Alleged Mob Ties Allowed to Funnel $50M to His Family’s Casino and Resort
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DeNaples Family's Casino And Resort Handed Out The Biggest Loan Yet
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the first and largest loans to date under the Trump administration’s $600 billion Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) was made between family members, including one with a checkered past: “The Scranton-area bank directed by landfill magnate Louis A. DeNaples has handed out the biggest loan yet. … The recipient: the Mount Airy Casino Resort, owned by trusts for DeNaples’ children and grandchildren. DeNaples had to relinquish his own ownership to resolve charges that he’d concealed his ties to organized crime.”
The U.S. Treasury-approved MSLP -- designed to “support lending to small and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit organizations that were in sound financial condition before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.” -- allowed the DeNaples family to essentially funnel a low-interest $50 million loan to the family casino and leave taxpayers on the hook for most of the risk.
“The administration’s pandemic response efforts always seem to miss the mark,” said Kyle Herrig, president of government watchdog Accountable.US that has been tracking MSLP spending as part of its www.COVIDBailoutTracker.com project. “This money was meant to help Main Street businesses, not casinos owned by families with alleged mafia connections. It’s time for the president and his allies in Congress to get serious about helping those who need it most by extending enhanced unemployment benefits for workers and actually helping struggling small business.”
Read the full Philadelphia Inquirer story, 'Family ties bind bank behind $50M taxpayer-backed coronavirus loan to Poconos casino' by Jacob Adelman
