 |
MWW Group has settled a federal suit alleging that it violated the False Claims Act by taking a second loan of $2M from the Paycheck Protection Program to which it was not entitled because it was registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The PR firm said its former CFO was unaware that a 2021 change in the law made it ineligible for the second loan.
It also notes that due to the ambiguity of the FARA statute, it is in question whether MWW was actually required to file the FARA report during these periods and if it was, in fact, ineligible for the loan.
MWW said it voluntarily agreed to reimburse the Small Business Administration the equivalent of the loan to avoid any appearance of impropriety whatsoever. The firm’s insurance carrier will pay a chunk of that outlay.
Under the settlement MWW will pay the US $2.29M, plus interest. A whistleblower, unaffiliated with MWW or the government, will receive $229K as part of the US recovery.
The Justice Dept. noted that MWW fully cooperated with its investigation and the resolution of the matter.
Congress created the PPP in March 2020 as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
Precision Strategies, an integrated strategy and marketing agency with offices in Washington and New York, acquires Firehouse Strategies, a DC-based public affairs firm... AVENIR GLOBAL acquires London-based Thinks Insight & Strategy... Good Company, which bills itself as a “cultural engineering firm,” is launched by DJ Hardy, a veteran of Johannesburg-based communications consultancy arxna and M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and Casey Stickles, who has worked at 5WPR, Rubenstein and MWW.
PSC (Princeton Strategic Communications) acquires Nonprofit Partners... CG Life launches 24/364, a cultural brand platform intended to drive awareness, connection and action aimed at keeping rare disease at the forefront of the health and social conversation... Interluxe Group, which focuses on brand experiences and in-person activations; Quinn, a strategic communications agency; and media and digital agency North & Warren are uniting under the Interluxe Group banner.
KITH, which provides corporate reputation and crisis preparation services, is now owned by CEO Stephanie Craig, who has been with the firm since 2021... The Marketing Cloud, a part of Stagwell, introduces several expansions to Agent Cloud, the platform it launched in October 2025 to simplify access to its AI tools and marketing assistants.... Notified launches its AI Press Release Optimizer.
V2 Communications launches its AI Visibility Solution and Earned Media at Scale, two service offerings designed to help companies increase visibility and credibility in generative search... The Public Relations Global Network brings on Greenough Communications as its Boston member agency... DBC is relaunching The DBC Industry Calendar as a free site to help communicators more easily discover relevant events and awards in the cluttered event landscape driven by the growth of webinars and online events. 
PAN releases new original research showing that a significant share of B2B citations surfaced by ChatGPT are inaccurate, misattributed or entirely fabricated, introducing a new credibility risk for brands... REQ, which has offices in DC and San Diego, opens in Phoenix... Notified introduces Market Intelligence, an addition to its all-in-one IR Hub, which gives IR teams a more streamlined way to prepare for earnings calls.
