I guess the feds want to know where that $535 million dollar “green jobs” DOE loan went.
Via Andrew Breitbart and from NBC Bay Area News:
FBI agents armed with search warrants descended this morning on bankrupt solar company Solynrda this morning.
The investigation comes after a request by the Department of Energy’s inspector general, FBI spokesman Peter Lee told NBC Bay Area News.
Agents arrived at 7a.m. and are examining the factory. Solynrda has a skeleton crew of 100 workers on the scene, closing the factory down. A CNBC photographer on the scene says the FBI has promised a press conference. An agency spokesperson at its San Francisco headquarters says he’s unaware of any such plans.
Solyndra filed for bankruptcy last week, shocking both workers and the Obama administration, which had given the startup hundreds of millions of dollars in low interest loans.
Congress has demanded a hearing into the matter.
There are no reports of any arrests at this time.
Read the whole thing here. We trust this is the start of a real investigation and not a “securing embarrassing documents” operation.
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“The company’s biggest lender was the federal government, which loaned Solyndra $528 million in 2009 to build a new factory near its Fremont headquarters. As part of an effort to boost renewable power companies, the government offered Solyndra as much as $535 million for the project, but the factory cost slightly less to build than expected.
The government will not, however, be the first creditor in line during Solyndra’s bankruptcy proceedings. A $69 million loan this spring from the company’s private investors will be repaid before taxpayers get their money back, according to a creditors’ agreement cited in the bankruptcy filing. ”
Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2774510/posts
Solyndra just couldn’t make it until Obama’s next Infrastructure bill.
Given the actions of the current DOJ , I fear your trust may be misplaced .
Does this drive the last nail in the coffin of Green Jobs in the USA? To my mind, it does. By the way, Bishop Hill is discussing a related matter in “Coopting Extremes.” Trenberth and others are going to provide to insurance companies the service of identifying the parts of extreme weather events that are caused by global warming. Can you spell Enron?
On the Pennsylvania Turnpike heading west towards the wind turbines at Somerset there is a roadside billboard that says “wind dies and the sun sets.” The billboard is sponsored by Pennsylvania coal
I think that captures my own sentiments perfectly.
Cheers,
John
I’m betting the next one to fall is Fisker Auto. Another $529 million loan, Al Gore a big backer and Klieiner Perkins the big venture money with heavy donations into the Obama and Hillary campaigns. Any bets?
Can we expect Solyndra Solar to be mentioned early in the Pres’ speech tonight, or not at all?
Current DOJ? Nah, all DOJ’s. Every federal investigation or special prosecutor has exactly one job. Bury embarrassing information forever and “suicide” every stubborn truth-teller. Been that way for 50 years at least.
“We trust this is the start of a real investigation and not a “securing embarrassing documents” operation.”
This is the Holder DOJ. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy…
Strictly speaking, it was a loan guarantee …. But with the money gone, the loaners I’m sure will like to receive the. Guaranteed money.
Great, more Green Jobs means more FBI “green” jobs. The Green Police.
It went into someone’s pocket, probably, along with lavish accoutrements for the office. Sort of like how the early dot-coms went through money like that in only a few months.
The company I am with could really use some money like that to create *real* jobs. In fact, we could probably produce about a dozen jobs right now with 1/5 of that amount.
Yeah, it’s not as if rights matter to these guys.
Mark
Suspicion of more links to Obama’s administration.
‘Kaiser is an important link in this story. He is also a very big fund-raiser for Obama. He is often referred to as a “Bundler”. In this case that means he encouraged/pushed others to put up money for the big O’s campaign.
The bankruptcy filing indicates that Argonaut Ventures, an investment arm of the Tulsa-based foundation, holds almost 39 percent of Solyndra’s parent, 360 Solar Degree Holdings Inc.
In an emailed statement to the Tulsa World, a representative of the George Kaiser Family Foundation said the organization made the investment through Argonaut.’
http://www.zerohedge.com/print/437415
More job “creation” in America.
Peter Schiff and Gibson Guitar CEO
http://youtu.be/sptsK9t445o
Environmental police state http://www.naturalnews.com/033526_Gibson_Guitars_environmental_police.html
Get used to it.
We are selling our secrets to China, in return for cheap labor (i.e. pricing).
The impact of this is far reaching…
http://www.chemweek.com/chem_ideas/Rebecca-Coons/Solyndra-Bankruptcy-Death-Knell-for-U-S-Solar-Industry_37339.html
Obama and Solar Energy: Solyndra Bankruptcy is a $527 Million Loss
http://www.investingdaily.com/id/18981/obama-and-solar-energy-solyndra-bankruptcy-is-a-527-million-loss.html
“According to White House visitor logs, between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials and investors made no fewer than 20 trips to the West Wing. In the week before the administration awarded Solyndra with the first-ever alternative energy loan guarantee on March 20, four separate visits were logged.”
http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/08/solyndra-officials-made-numerous-trips-to-the-white-house-logs-show/
crony capitalism aka socialism aka obamaism is the order of the day much as the goal of all “environmentalist” and pushers of global warming.
I don’t think this is about finding missing money at all. I suspect that it is about sealing off the Soylandra records from a congressional inquiry. The FBI has “sealed” all of the seized records. I expect them to remain sealed thru November 2012.
Wonder if any of that $535 million made it into Democrat campaign funds, one way or another.
I started my high-tech company in 2002 with around $15K in money I saved up. I grew the company without borrowing one cent. I how have offices in six states with international distribution and employ some 25+ employees who all have an excellent company health care plan, profit sharing, and other benefits. I’ve watched over 70% of my competitors go out of business while my company continues to grow even in this awful economy and time of government antagonism towards small business.
With a half billion dollars, Barry couldn’t get his pet “green” company off the ground. This tells me the following about Solyndra:
1. Was never intended to operate as a legitimate company.
2. Never had a business plan based on real business concepts.
3. Didn’t start with a real product concept.
4. Hired incompetent people from management down.
5. Staked their success on pipe dreams without any thought on how to get there.
6. Invested in R&D that was all R and no D.
7. Had no market.
9. Developed a supply line that saw the company as a feeding trough.
10. Failed to empower employees that were capable of meeting corporate goals.
11. Had a management team that spent all their time at the golf course.
Seriously, for a company to fail with a half billion start up capital, all of the above and more have to be true.
This is a poster perfect example of what happens when government decides to pick the winners and losers in a market driven economy. It will pick losers every time. Perfect timing for our business inept president to tell us how he’s going to create jobs tonight. Grab your pocketbooks because it will surely involve you paying for a bunch more Solyndras.
Tesla will be next, hope they track down all the political contributions…
Another view from the Polipundit on the Solandra Affair – Coverup
Does anyone really think that Holder signed off on this as a legit raid?
This is to lock the records down until after the election. Now the DOJ controls the pace of any investigation, the bankruptcy proceedings can’t proceed and there won’t be any fuel for the eventual civil suits.
This was not a clean raid in the interest of justice, it was the first step in the cover-up.
So they actually got all that money for the plant? At least Evergreen Solar in Massachusetts had some tax breaks and other less direct assistance that they weren’t able to burn through.
Perhaps we can take it out of the billions Obama is prepared to borrow/print for the next round.
Did someone mention Fisker, funny they get there batteries from A123 (AONE) public in 2009 at $20 now trading around 4.80, and guess what they also have government grant of 250 million and are running at a loss, sound familiar.
The fact is that many so-called “green” jobs, are old fashioned “brown” jobs with a fresh coat of paint that apparently brings in some extra “greenbacks”. Examples are waste management and sewage/water treatment. To anyone out of work, it doesn’t matter what color the job is as long as it pays the bills.
The Govt simply insists on being the middleman, which gives them the power to hand out favors to their friends, and punish their enemies. All the while taking a significant cut for “administrative services”. Kind of like a cross between Santa Claus and the Mafia.