The Texas salon owner jailed for opening up shop in violation of the state’s coronavirus rules said that she received $18,000 in stimulus funds from the federal government prior to her court date.
But Shelley Luther, the owner of Salon à la Mode in Dallas, blasted the feds for the “confusion” over the Paycheck Protection Program, saying the cash was dropped into her account without warning or instructions, weeks after she applied for it.
“All of a sudden, two days before my court trial, money drops in my account and I had no idea what it was,” Luther said in an interview on Fox News Tuesday morning.
“There was no email, there was no information, no letter, no instructions on how to spend the money, so it was difficult to even know what it was or how to spend it,” Luther added.
“Everything is so confusing and crazy coming from the government right now.”
The salon owner said she applied for the federal funds as soon as she was able to, fearing her business wouldn’t survive the state’s coronavirus shutdown.
Her claims of confusion came after she was confronted on ABC’s “The View” on Monday for saying she couldn’t afford for her business to close, all while having received the loan.
“You applied for small business loans and unemployment, and you did receive some aid from the government,” co-host Sunny Hostin said. “You received $18,000 from the government.”
“So I understand why people feel so strongly about going back to work because they feel that the government isn’t doing its job and taking care of people, but in this instance, two days before you went to court, the money went into your account,” Hostin added. “So I’m troubled by that.”
Luther responded that “what happened was I already had the court date, and I already had been open the entire time.”
“There was $18,000 dropped in my bank account with no notice of what it was. So I get no instructions.”
Luther made national headlines for keeping her salon open — and choosing jail time over apologizing for violating the rule and paying a fine.
Dallas County State District Judge Eric Moyé sentenced her to seven days in the slammer and a $7,000 fine.
But she was quickly released after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order retroactively eliminating jail time for breaching the restrictions.
Since then, she said business has been “booming,” with her salon even receiving a visit from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
She also received more than $500,000 from a GoFundMe campaign started a day before she reopened, Texas Monthly reported.