Investing.com — The Justice Department announced Tuesday a settlement with to resolve a fair lending investigation into a discriminatory investment program created for black and minority-owned businesses.

The settlement requires PayPal to launch a new Small Business Initiative that excludes criteria based on race, national origin, or other protected characteristics. Under the initiative, PayPal will waive processing fees for $1 billion of transactions, valued at approximately $30 million, for eligible American small businesses that are veteran-owned or engaged in farming, manufacturing, or technology.

“This Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s vow to root out illegal DEI from every corner of corporate America,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “American corporations are on notice: you will face our aggressive enforcement if you use race or national origin to discriminate against qualified Americans.”

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, “With this settlement, PayPal agrees that race and national origin should play no part in determining which small businesses deserve its investment and financial support.”

PayPal is not paying a fine as part of the agreement with the government.

“For more than two decades, PayPal has helped small businesses start, scale, and thrive by expanding access to digital financial tools. We’re excited to launch the Small Business Initiative to infuse American small businesses with even more economic opportunity,” the company said in an emailed statement.

As part of the settlement, PayPal will designate a director of the Small Business Initiative, conduct an assessment of the needs of American small businesses, submit plans and proposals for the initiative to the United States, provide training to employees on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and report on the initiative annually.

PayPal announced the Economic Opportunity Fund in 2020 to invest in black and minority-owned businesses. The program gave a preference to businesses based on race, color, and national origin, but was not implemented to remediate any specific instances of past discrimination.

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