PPP loan for fake orange grove in Minnesota raises questions

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mantorville, Minn., is known for a lot of things: Its history as a stagecoach stop, its haunted opera house and the famous Hubbell House restaurant.

However, the Dodge County community, population 1,197, is not known as a place to grow oranges.

That’s why a Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loan to support an “Orange Grove” in the heart of the small Minnesota town has become a prime example of unidentified groups or entities using fake farms to collect hundreds of small loans.

A PPP loan for $17,000 was dispersed to “Shaila Big Fresh Oranges” on Mantorville’s Clark Street in August 2020. Another loan of $20,000 was also approved for Shaila Wanous for “sole proprietorship” orange grove earlier in April 2020, but those funds were never released.

Read more: https://www.twincities.com/2021/05/29/report-ppp-loan-for-fake-orange-grove-in-minnesota-raises-questions/