Taxpayers could have to cover Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s bad loan

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Kansas City Star:

 

Taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $1.1 million to cover a bad loan for U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s car wash in Grandview, the Small Business Administration said Friday.

 

SBA officials said the agency had guaranteed roughly 75 percent of the 2002 Bank of America loan to the firm that owns the business, Cleaver Company LLC. In a lawsuit filed March 30, Bank of America said the company — along with Cleaver and his wife, Dianne — owed more than $1.46 million in principal and interest on the loan.

 

That means the SBA, a federal agency charged with helping small businesses, could end up paying the bank three-fourths of Cleaver’s principal and interest debt, or roughly $1.085 million, if the Democratic congressman’s company cannot meet its obligations.

 

Officials cautioned that the exact amount of the SBA’s responsibility might not be known for months, and could be substantially less.