Petaluma, Calif. – Head of litigation for the Small Business Administration (SBA) Eric Benderson, denied the SBA actually lost a federal court case filed by the American Small Business League (ASBL).

Since the federal court ruled in favor of the ASBL, Mr. Benderson's statements in an article by Pamela A. MacLean for The National Law Journal  (http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1202429063119) appeared contradictory and inconsistent with the facts and rulings of the case. In regard to ASBL President Lloyd Chapman's legal victory against the SBA, Mr. Benderson stated Mr. Chapman "didn't prevail and he got the information."

Mr. Benderson went on to make another statement that seemed contradictory when he said, "We won the case and decided not to appeal." Mr. Benderson failed to explain why or how the SBA appealed a case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that they supposedly won and then subsequently dropped their appeal.

The ASBL originally filed suit in Federal District Court in San Francisco after the SBA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for the names of Fortune 500 firms that received billions of dollars in federal small business contracts for fiscal years (FY) 2005 and 2006.

In September of 2008, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel issued a ruling in favor of the ASBL and denied the SBA's claim that they did not have the information the ASBL was requesting. Judge Patel stated, "The court finds curious the SBA's argument that it does not 'control' the very information it needs to carry out its duties and functions." (www.asbl.com/documents/26-2.pdf)

Even though the SBA is required by statute to manage federal small business contracting data, SBA Press Office Director Michael Stamler claimed, "They sued us for the records but it is not our data."

Since 2003 over a dozen federal investigations have been released that found billions in federal small business contracts were diverted to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of large businesses. Major newspapers and television networks such as ABC, CBS and CNN covered the story. (https://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)

Michael Stamler and Eric Benderson have been accused by the ASBL of attempting to hide billions of dollars in fraud and abuse in SBA managed programs with a series of press releases that referred to the widely reported abuses as a "myth".

President Obama agreed with the ASBL in recognizing the magnitude of the problems at the SBA in February of 2008 when he stated, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)