Ajinomoto Cambrooke, Inc., an Ayer, Massachusetts medical nutrition company, agreed to pay $1,360,819.04 to the federal government on December 24, 2025 to resolve allegations that it fraudulently obtained a Paycheck Protection Program loan. The Ajinomoto Cambrooke PPP settlement rests on a straightforward eligibility problem: when the company’s headcount was combined with that of its Japanese parent, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., the workforce ran to nearly 35,000, far above the program’s 500-employee ceiling.1U.S. Department of Justice. Ayer Company Agrees to Pay Over $1.3 Million to Resolve Allegations of PPP Loan Fraud
Why the Loan Was Ineligible
Cambrooke applied for a first-draw PPP loan on or about May 15, 2020 and certified that it met the program’s eligibility requirements, including the 500-employee size standard. The loan was approved, and the Small Business Administration later granted full forgiveness.1U.S. Department of Justice. Ayer Company Agrees to Pay Over $1.3 Million to Resolve Allegations of PPP Loan Fraud
Under 13 CFR § 121.301(f), an applicant had to count the employees of all domestic and foreign affiliates when measuring size. On May 5, 2020, the SBA issued specific guidance clarifying that a borrower “must count all of its employees and the employees of its U.S. and foreign affiliates” for eligibility purposes. A safe harbor was available for applicants who applied before that date and excluded foreign employees, but Cambrooke applied ten days after the guidance issued and could not use it.2U.S. Department of the Treasury. Interim Final Rule on Treatment of Entities With Foreign Affiliates
Cambrooke is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc., which is itself wholly owned by Tokyo-based Ajinomoto Co. The parent employs roughly 34,860 people in 31 countries, so the combined affiliated headcount was never close to fitting under 500.3Ajinomoto Co., Inc. At a Glance
How the Case Reached a Settlement
The matter began as a whistleblower lawsuit under the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions. The relator, Verity Investigations, LLC, filed United States ex rel. Verity Investigations, LLC v. Ajinomoto Cambrooke, Inc., No. 25-cv-10220-RGS, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Verity has been active in this area and served as relator in at least one other foreign-affiliation PPP case.4U.S. Department of Justice. US Attorneys Office Reaches $7.9M in Settlements Connected to PPP Fraud Enforcement Initiative
As part of the settlement, Cambrooke admitted that it applied for and received the PPP loan despite exceeding the applicable size standards once its parent’s employees were counted. Verity received 10 percent of the settlement amount as the whistleblower share. The Department of Justice also credited Cambrooke for cooperating during the investigation under DOJ guidelines on voluntary disclosure and remediation, and that cooperation credit likely explains why the payment, while above the face value of the forgiven loan, stayed below the treble damages the False Claims Act allows.1U.S. Department of Justice. Ayer Company Agrees to Pay Over $1.3 Million to Resolve Allegations of PPP Loan Fraud
Where This Fits in DOJ’s PPP Enforcement
Cambrooke is one of many U.S. subsidiaries of foreign parents that DOJ has pursued for missing the affiliation rule. In a single 2026 announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina reached more than $7.9 million in settlements across five such cases, involving subsidiaries of companies based in Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands. Each borrower had already received full forgiveness before the government intervened.4U.S. Department of Justice. US Attorneys Office Reaches $7.9M in Settlements Connected to PPP Fraud Enforcement Initiative
A closely analogous case involved Fujisoft America, Inc., which had roughly 13 U.S. employees but a Japanese parent, Fujisoft Inc., of about 15,000. Fujisoft America settled for $1,050,000 in June 2023 on underlying loans totaling $400,000, with DOJ imposing a heavier multiplier because the company’s own CFO had internally concluded it was ineligible before it applied.5U.S. Department of Justice. Fujisoft America Inc Settlement Agreement Victory Automotive Group, a domestic borrower that ignored affiliations among dozens of dealerships, paid $9 million in 2023 on a roughly $6.3 million loan.6U.S. Department of Justice. Victory Automotive Group Inc Agrees to Pay $9 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations
Across these matters, DOJ has generally sought roughly 1.5 to 2 times the forgiven amount, with higher multipliers when the record shows the borrower knew it was ineligible when it applied. Cambrooke’s cooperation credit put it near the lower end of that band.
The push is not slowing. U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah B. Foley called existing benefits-fraud cases “the tip of the iceberg” and said her office is using data analytics and AI-enabled tools to identify additional targets.1U.S. Department of Justice. Ayer Company Agrees to Pay Over $1.3 Million to Resolve Allegations of PPP Loan Fraud The False Claims Act’s ten-year statute of limitations keeps PPP loans issued in 2020 and 2021 exposed to investigation through at least 2030.