US anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace to pay $600,000-plus penalty after fraud allegations
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

The anti-Zionist activist group Jewish Voice for Peace will pay a penalty of $677,634 to the US government after allegations of fraud.
Jewish Voice for Peace received a loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was launched in March 2020, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia says in a statement.
Groups engaged in political or lobbying activities were not eligible for the loans, and Jewish Voice for Peace said it was not engaged in such activities in its loan application.
An investigation determined that “Jewish Voice for Peace was primarily engaged in political activities,” however, the statement says.
The investigation came after a complaint filed by The Zionist Advocacy Center, a New York-based group.
Jewish Voice for Peace received a loan of $388,817, and, as part of a civil settlement, agreed to pay twice that amount in a penalty. The settlement does not include a “determination of liability,” the district attorney’s office says.
“Jewish Voice for Peace contends that any misstatements in this application were inadvertent,” the statement says.
Jewish Voice for Peace took in $3.3 million in revenue, mainly from donations and grants, between July 2022 and July 2023, according to its most recent tax filings.