May 18. That’s yet another new deadline set by the Treasury Department for public companies to return Paycheck Protection Program loans intended for small businesses, The New York Times reported.

The Treasury Department announced that PPP loans are not meant for “a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets.” Yet several public companies applied for and easily got the loans, helping to wipe out the Small Business Administration’s $670 billion budget and shut out small businesses.

PPP was launched in March to help small businesses hurt by the covid-19 pandemic, part of the $2 trillion CARES Act economic stimulus packages. An Associated Press investigation found that at least 147 publicly traded companies, some with a market value exceeding $100 million, received loans totaling $555 million through the program.

Now, the Treasury Department has given big borrowers a May 14 deadline to return loans.

So far, more than 40 public companies have returned PPP loans worth about $421 million, The Hill reported.

Among the companies that have made returns are restaurant operators Shake Shack Inc., Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc., and Potbelly Corp.

The Justice Department said it will investigate companies that applied for PPP loans, and experts predict that borrowers who provided misleading information could face jail sentences, Market Watch reported.

“So far, PPP hasn’t gone smoothly,” said Capital Alpha Partners analyst Ian Katz.

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The Small Business Administration wants to make sure business owners understand the PPP program. It recently re-confirmed that PPP is for companies with less than 500 employees. The business must include all of its (and its affiliates’) employees wherever located (including overseas employees), even though the business’s calculation of “payroll costs” includes only those employees whose principal residence is in the U.S., The National Law Review reported.

The loans are forgivable if 75 percent of the money is used to keep employees on the payroll. Applicants had to apply to lenders, but the loans were guaranteed and approved by the Small Business Administration.

The loans were first-come, first-served. The Small Business Administration program ran out of money in 13 days in Round 1 of the PPP loans. Large commercial banking customers — some with in-house legal counsel or the means to pay expensive law firms — found ways to get approved fast.

“It does indeed seem unfair that a company large enough to trade on a stock exchange, or an individual with enough money to have a designated concierge at a major bank, should be able to cut in line in front of mom-and-pops,” Katz said. “We get that. But what’s not getting adequate discussion is the economic objective, which is getting people back to work.”