Class Action Says Small Business Administration Discriminated Against Minority-Owned Businesses

BALTIMORE — A class action filed in Maryland federal court accuses the Small Business Administration of discriminating against minority-owned businesses when it doled out $350 billion to small businesses as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

In an April 17 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, the plaintiffs say the SBA “chose to pick winners and losers” when providing relief, “the winners being non-minority and non-woman owned small businesses.”

On March 27, President Trump signed the CARES Act, which created a new Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to permit …