An Atlantic County health system entered into a settlement agreement with the United States resolving allegations that the non-profit company violated the False Claims Act by taking a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to which the company was not entitled, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today. According to the allegations in the complaint and the contentions of the United States contained in the settlement agreement: Congress created the PPP in March 2020, as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to provide emergency financial support to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized billions of dollars in forgivable loans to small businesses struggling to pay employees and other business expenses. Shore Memorial Physicians’ Group (SPG), an affiliate of the Shore Memorial Health System Inc., applied for and received a PPP loan for $2.78 million, even though it was ineligible for such a loan because it was affiliated with Shore Memorial Health System and was therefore not a small business within the meaning of the PPP program. Shore Memorial Physicians’ Group thereafter sought and received forgiveness of the total amount of the loan.
