Technically, a church is a "small business", although a different breed of business. Not saying this guy isn't a crook, but a) if he applied for the money within the process, and b) has many employees on his payroll, then there shouldn't be a stink about it. It's just a loan so far, so it will have to be paid back - unless the forgiveness conditions are met. Also, not knowing anything about his church - other than it stinks of fleecing the simple minded - I would guess that most of his income is severely curtailed. If the congregants lose their jobs, the first thing that gets the axe from most people is "charitable contributions".  Just because an owner is rich as fuck doesn't mean that the business doesn't need help boosting the books since the March lockdowns. It would be nice if his "ill gotten" gains were used to help without getting in bed with the government, but since he is already a charlatan, merging his church with the gov seems like a logical step for him.