VELTOR UNDERGROUND, LLC v. U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION; KELLY LOEFFLER, Administrator of U.S. Small Business Administration; SCOTT BESSENT, Secretary of U.S. Department of Treasury - Articles

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VELTOR UNDERGROUND, LLC v. U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION; KELLY LOEFFLER, Administrator of U.S. Small Business Administration; SCOTT BESSENT, Secretary of U.S. Department of Treasury

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jul 11, 2025

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Lawrence D. Rosenberg, JONES DAY, Washington, D.C., Stephanie Golden, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY, Morgantown, West Virginia, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: Adam C. Jed, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: Lawrence D. Rosenberg, JONES DAY, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: Adam C. Jed, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

Judge(s): SUTTON, Chief Judge; GIBBONS and WHITE, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit

SUTTON, Chief Judge. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program to keep American workers employed. The program promised forgivable loans to small businesses that maintained their payrolls during the crisis. One such business, Veltor Underground LLC, claimed that it had six employees when it applied for and received a $125,000 loan. But the Small Business Administration declined to forgive the loan when it discovered that Veltor’s six employees were in fact independent contractors. Veltor sued. The district court sided with the government. Because Veltor’s payments to independent contractors do not qualify as “payroll costs” under the statute, we affirm.

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