SharePopular poker pros Garrett Adelstein and Jeremy Ausmus have both been criticised for taking out 5-figure PPP loans totalling $tens of thousands during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic...
Highstakes tournament pro Jeremy Ausmus was first on ThePokerKarenâs hit list this week, eyebrows raised as to why he required almost $11k of the US governmentâs Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) money.
In particular, the anonymous Twitter account asks, since Ausmus has $millions in recorded cashes and would pay and play $10k at the Wynn Summer Classic just weeks later, cashing for $33k.
The PPP fund was set up to protect companies (and their workers) at risk of having to pay off employees during the economic woes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apparently, cash game crusher Garrett Adelstein â who has been headline news since accusing Robbi Jade Lew of cheating on the Hustler Casino Live show â also needed some help with paying for âemployeesâ.
Adelstein claimed more than $40k in forgivable loans, despite being the biggest winner in Hustler Casino Live history, raking in more than $1.5million in just 53 sessions at the California card house.
Itâs not clear whether the PPP claims were for themselves or to pay for someone working for them.
A question put to Daniel Negreanu asking whether he claimed PPP funds for his personal assistant, Patty Landis, was met with a resounding reply...
Negreanu also recently spoke out against Adelsteinâs cheating claims, tweeting: âThe root cause of ALL of this is Garret. He handled this terribly. If he just got up and went to production or just STFU then none of this would have happened. Imagine she is innocent â look at what he has caused if so.â
The PPP loans system, which ran from April 2020 to May 2021, has been described as âthe biggest fraud in a generationâ with fake companies, fake salaries, and fake loans among the ways criminals have exploited it to the tune of as much as $76 billion of the programâs $800 billion.
There is no suggestion that Adelstein or Ausmus were involved in any kind of fraudulent activity, and they werenât alone in the poker-sphere for claiming PPP funds.
Others listed on the pandemicoversight.org website include:
- WPT Enterprises Inc: $697,087
- Card Player Media LLC: $156,371
- Solve For Why Academy LLC: $67,026
- Minnesota Poker Magazine LLC: $40,561
- Ante Up Poker Media LLC: $25,331
- Red Chip Poker LLC: $20,430
- Learn Pro Poker LLC: $11,900
