Online lender Prosper Marketplace on Tuesday confirmed that it facilitated a $28,500 loan to Syed Farook, just weeks before he and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people during an ISIS-inspired shooting spree in San Bernadino.
“Yes, unfortunately they did get their loan from Prosper,” said an outside spokesperson for the San Francisco-based company, which matches individual lenders with pre-approved borrowers.
The acknowledgment was an apparent exception to standard policy for Prosper, which says it is prohibited by law from disclosing any non-public, personally identifiable information regarding loans originated on its platform. The spokesperson also sent over a more formal statement, which included the following:
All loans originated through the Prosper platform are subject to all identity verification and screening procedures required by law, including US anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws. As part of our standard procedures, we also confirm that all loan funds are disbursed into a verified US bank account in the borrower’s name. Like all Americans, Prosper is shocked and saddened by recent events in San Bernardino.
All loans originated through the Prosper platform are subject to all identity verification and screening procedures required by law, including US anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws. As part of our standard procedures, we also confirm that all loan funds are disbursed into a verified US bank account in the borrower’s name. Like all Americans, Prosper is shocked and saddened by recent events in San Bernardino.
Since being founded a decade ago, Prosper says that it has amassed more than two million members and arranged over $5 billion in funded loans. The company is privately-held, having earlier this year raised $165 million in new funding from investors that included affiliates of Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan.
Earlier today, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump had speculated that the deposit was “probably given by some people that we are fighting.”