capitol rioters who got ppp loans

Cleavon_MD/Twitter Ashli Babbitt/Twitter Alex Gakos/Shutterstock (Licensed)

Deceased Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt received PPP loan—and she wasn’t the only one

Multiple rioters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday received PPP loans for their businesses in 2020.

 

Eric Levai

Tech

Posted on Jan 9, 2021   Updated on Jan 27, 2021, 4:31 pm CST

Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot while attempting to climb through a window during the Capitol riots, received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for her businesses in 2020. And she wasn’t the only one who has benefited from the government, but still went against it on Wednesday.

Multiple rioters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday received PPP loans for their businesses in 2020, the Daily Dot has discovered.

In Body Image

Babbitt received $68,225 for Fowler’s Pool Service, a swimming pool supply store in Spring Valley, California. She was CEO of the business, which she reportedly co-owned with her husband, Aaron. He, according to WAVY, did not accompany her to D.C.

In Body Image

Jenny Cudd, who live-streamed herself confessing to breaking down House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office door, received one PPP loan and two Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for a flower shop in Midland, Texas.

According to program rules, businesses may receive one PPP loan and one EIDL loan. It is unclear why Cudd, who is also a former mayoral candidate, received more than two loans.

Cudd’s business has since been removed from a popular wedding planning app, and she told NewsWest 9 that she is receiving threatening calls after the public phone number for it was widely shared. The FBI is reviewing tips about Cudd, according to the outlet.

Bradley Ruskelas, CEO of Customer Asset Consulting Group (DBA Cogensia), a data analytics firm in Schaumburg, Illinois, received $586,237 in PPP loans.

Ruskelas was arrested and charged with unlawful entry.

In Body Image

And as previously reported by the Daily Dot, Richard Barnett, the man who was seen in a now-viral photo sitting with his feet up at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office desk and who stole mail from it, received $9,300 for his independent contracting business. He, too, has since been arrested.

It was noted at the time that the PPP loan could be considered socialism, which Barnett, like many of the other rioters, seems to be against. The irony of this—and that many of the rioters stormed the Capitol because they feel “oppressed”—did not go over people’s heads. “He’s so oppressed that he got $9,300 in PPP money from the government he just looted,” one user wrote at the time.


Read more of the Daily Dot’s tech and politics coverage

Nevada’s GOP secretary of state candidate follows QAnon, neo-Nazi accounts on Gab, Telegram
Court filing in Bored Apes lawsuit revives claims founders built NFT empire on Nazi ideology
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Say hi to the Donald for us’: Florida police briefed armed right-wing group before they went to Jan. 6 protest
Inside the Proud Boys’ ties to ghost gun sales
‘Judas’: Gab users are furious its founder handed over data to the FBI without a subpoena
EXCLUSIVE: Anti-vax dating site that let people advertise ‘mRNA FREE’ semen left all its user data exposed
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
Share this article
*First Published: Jan 9, 2021, 10:37 am CST