The Washington Post reported that New York’s Strand Book Store, Inc. furloughed 188 of 217 workers in March 2020, a staffing blow that preceded its later dispute over federal pandemic-loan eligibility.
Owner Nancy Bass Wyden brought 30 employees back in June after the store received its first Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, then cut 12 positions several weeks later, The Washington Post reported. Bass Wyden later told the newspaper that the #savethestrand campaign generated more than 25,000 online purchases in one weekend.
The Independent reported that in October 2020, Bass Wyden urged customers to shop at the store or online. In a social media post, she said the first loan had kept Strand operating for eight months as revenue fell 70% and described the business as “unsustainable.” The store was founded by Benjamin Bass in 1927 and has appeared in films and television programs including “Julie & Julia” and “Sex and the City,” The Independent reported.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Nov. 3 that Strand agreed to pay $1,482,560 to resolve claims over its February 2021 application for a $932,350 second-draw PPP loan. The DOJ said Bass Wyden certified on the application that a member of Congress’s spouse did not directly or indirectly hold a controlling interest in the applicant. The DOJ said Strand was ineligible because its controlling owner, Bass Wyden, was married to Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. The bookstore’s 2020 loan did not require the same declaration.
The agreement made no finding on whether the company was liable, according to EconoTimes’ earlier account of the settlement’s legal terms.
Bass Wyden said the store did not know the eligibility rules had changed between its two loan applications and called the mistake unintentional. She said Strand returned the funds after the issue came to its attention, adding, “We regret the oversight.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the program was intended to protect jobs, not benefit ineligible recipients, including the wife of a senator. A representative for Wyden’s office said the senator and his wife do not discuss her business affairs and that he had no role in the loan or settlement.
