Oklahoma recipients include businesses owned by congressmen, churches, chain restaurants and oil and gas operations, the data released by the U.S. Small Business Administration shows.
The new unemployment data comes at a time when several Oklahoma mayors, faced with increasingly high numbers of COVID-19 cases in their cities, have started to re-implement some restrictions on businesses and social gatherings, aimed at stopping the spread of the disease.
The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission is also planning to host an in-person claims processing event in Tulsa on July 15 and 16, though a location has yet to be determined.
“We are so far away from talking about this, again we just have to learn how to live with it,” Stitt said Thursday about implementing new social distancing restrictions amid a rise in coronavirus cases in Oklahoma.
“Defendants are nothing more than front companies utilized by TRG to obtain contracts set aside for legitimate small and other disadvantaged concerns and to illegally obtain payments from the Government,” the whistleblower lawsuit filed against the Ross Group states.
In a review of hires and appointments by Stitt, The Frontier found at least half of his cabinet secretaries continue to manage a private business, while some agency directors have also pursued additional private sector opportunities.
The company’s CEO predicted that revenue from its government services division, which issues unemployment, food stamp and other government benefit cards, will partially offset the losses in other sectors caused by COVID-19.
“I’m very frustrated because I’m beginning to feel that I am being tricked,” said one Owasso woman who has filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds. “It has been almost 2 months with no payment.”
