Bookstore Owned by Senator Wyden's Wife to Pay $1.5 Million for Improper Pandemic Loan
The Strand Book Store, a New York City establishment owned by Nancy Bass Wyden, wife of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), has agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million to the federal government. This settlement comes after the store improperly received a second round of pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. According to Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, the store received over $930,000 in the second round of funding, despite a December 2020 law explicitly barring businesses with significant direct or indirect stakes held by members of Congress or their spouses from receiving these funds. Bass Wyden had certified at the time that she met the necessary qualifications for the loan, a certification Pirro's office described as 'knowingly and materially false.' The initial PPP loan program in 2020 did not exclude businesses owned by members of Congress or their immediate families, and the Strand Book Store had previously received $1.7 million under those initial terms.
