Bill Manger Responds to Miami Herald Article Alleging Work Done for PPP Client That Was Banned

An article last week in the Miami Herald reported that Southampton Village Trustee Bill Manger, after his time in the Trump administration in Washington, D.C., went on to do work for a company that took advantage of the federal Paycheck Protection Program that he had overseen before returning to the village — a company that was one of the “worst offenders” in obtaining questionable loans for clients.

A candidate for mayor in June’s election, Manger responded this week, saying the article mischaracterized the nature of the work he did and what he was paid for.

Until January 2021, Manger was the chief of staff for the U.S. Small Business Administration, and in that role he oversaw the implementation of the $800 billion federal relief program that was created during the pandemic to help small businesses stay afloat.

He ran for village trustee in 2022, winning a two-year term, and declared in April that he would run for mayor against incumbent Jesse Warren, who is seeking a third term.

On the financial disclosure form he filled out when he ran for village trustee, Manger listed himself as a consultant for a technology firm called Womply, in keeping with the requirement to list any work done for outside employers or businesses for which he was paid $5,000 or more.

According to the Miami Herald article, Womply had created an online portal for prospective PPP loan applicants to submit their information and then funneled applicants to various banks and lenders the company partnered with. The company, also known as Oto Analytics — Womply is its “doing business as” name — was eventually banned by the Small Business Administration from doing business with the agency after it was accused by partner lenders of facilitating what the Herald characterized as “extensive fraud” — including facilitating fraudulent PPP loans “obtained by a suspected Florida drug gang.”

The ban came, the Herald said, after a report last December by the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, “which contained the accusations from Womply’s partners.”

Manger said earlier this week that the characterization that he went to work for a company that came under fire for essentially ripping off the program he formerly ran was false.

“Simply put, this article is a complete mischaracterization,” he wrote in a statement. “I was retained by the law firm of Willkie, Farr & Gallagher as an expert witness on the Paycheck Protection Program, and that is the extent of my involvement.

“I never did any work for Oto Analytics dba Womply,” he continued. “There are no ethical issues here whatsoever, and any attempt to spin it as such is just dirty politics. I am very proud of my record in the private sector and at the SBA, which included delivering approximately [$80 million] in PPP loans and more than [$50 million] in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to small businesses in the 11968 zip code.”

Manger said that, in hindsight, he should have listed himself as an “expert witness” rather than “consultant,” which would have more accurately described what he was paid to do on behalf of Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, and he added that he was in the process of amending the disclosure form, which, he said, “should put any confusion to bed.”

The Herald article also included a quote from Alexander L. Cheney, a lawyer with Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, which represented Womply in an arbitration case in which Manger was paid to be a “testifying expert.” Cheney was quoted in the Herald article as saying that Manger never served as a consultant for Womply but was paid for being a testifying expert.

The Herald noted that employees of the SBA who had discretion over how money was awarded are barred by policy from working as an “‘employee, partner, agent, attorney or other representative’ of any company that received SBA assistance for two years after the assistance is granted or administered.” But the article added that the only penalty in the law is for current SBA employees, who can face discipline. Manger left the SBA’s employ on January 20, 2021.