On January 22, 2026, the Department of Justice announced that it had reached a $1,823,100 settlement with Akris, Inc. (“Akris”), the United States subsidiary of Swiss fashion house Akris AG, to resolve allegations from Gregg Shapiro’s whistleblower client that Akris improperly obtained a $1,118,000 second draw Paycheck Protection Program loan. Gregg filed the whistleblower’s False Claims Act qui tam complaint less than seven months ago, in July 2025.
Under the second draw of the PPP, a business could receive a forgivable loan of up to $2 million, but not if it and its affiliates had more than 300 employees.
In the settlement, Akris admitted that:
– When it applied for its second draw PPP loan in March 2021, it represented that it was eligible for the loan and had 64 employees.
– At that time, Akris was the United States subsidiary of Akris AG, and Akris and its affiliates had more than 300 employees.
The whistleblower will receive approximately $183,000 of the settlement amount.
The whistleblower and his counsel commend the expeditious work of Assistant United States Attorney Steven Sharobem on this matter.