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by Evelyn Pyburn of Yellowstone County News

Republished in part with permission.

Significant federal funds flowed into Montana—and all other states—during the COVID-19 pandemic under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), with much of the funding aimed at stabilizing businesses during forced closures and worker shortages. A recent deep dive into those programs exposed some surprising and disturbing information—information that demands broader public awareness.

One of those programs was the Down Payment Assistance Loan Program, which funneled $83,725,989.45 to approximately 160 businesses in Montana through low-interest loans. The records show that a dozen or so of those businesses were in Yellowstone County. They also show that three of those loans went to businesses associated with one state legislator, Republican Representative Llew Jones of Conrad. Besides raising questions about conflicts of interest, the total of the three loans put Jones over what the Montana ARPA website states is a cap of $3 million in allowable loans to any one recipient.

Besides being a state legislator, Jones was serving on the commission formed to oversee the disbursement of ARPA loans: the Economic Transformation and Stabilization and Workforce Development Advisory Commission. The three Jones-affiliated businesses were granted a total of $4.365 million in loans from the Montana Down Payment Assistance Loan Program.

Read the remainder of the article HERE.

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