Obama’s taxpayer-funded eco scams are going tits up, left and right.
I wonder how this warrant got past Holder.
An FBI raid on Solyndra Inc., a solar-panel maker that failed after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Energy Department, may signal the escalation of a probe into the Obama administration’s clean- energy program.
Agents for Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman, who has called the department’s clean-energy loan program lacking in “transparency and accountability,” joined in the search yesterday at the Fremont, California, headquarters of Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6.
Republicans critical of the program stepped up their attacks following the raid, and two House Democrats questioned the integrity of the company, indicating a potential political crisis for the president. A foundation headed by an Obama campaign contributor was a principal investor in Solyndra.
“The FBI raid further underscores that Solyndra was a bad bet from the beginning and put taxpayers at unnecessary risk,” Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said yesterday in a statement. “President Obama’s signature green jobs program went from a darling of the administration, to bankruptcy, to now the subject of an FBI raid in a matter of days.”
Friedman, a watchdog within the Energy Department, said in a March report that a lack of adequate documentation for loans “leaves the department open to criticism that it may have exposed the taxpayers to unacceptable risks associated with these borrowers.”
The Energy Department gave Solyndra the most federal backing awarded a solar manufacturer. The George Kaiser Family Foundation, a charitable organization based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and backed by donations from billionaire George Kaiser, holds about 35.7 percent of Solyndra, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kaiser made 16 visits to the president’s aides since 2009, according to White House visitor logs.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-08/solyndra-s-california-headquarters-raided-by-fbi-agency-spokeswoman-says.html
Here come the investigations:
The collapse of the politically-connected solar energy firm Solyndra has unleashed a barrage of fresh questions from House and Senate investigators, who want to know why the Obama Administration agreed to invest $535 million in the now-bankrupt company, and what can be done to recover those funds.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel announced it will hold hearings next Wednesday on the government’s Solyndra loan. ABC News and iWatch News have also learned that Senate investigators have begun seeking answers from the administration about the deal.
“How did this company, without maybe the best economic plan, all of a sudden get to the head of the line?” said committee chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R.-Michigan, in an ABC News interview last week. “We want to know who made this decision … and we’re not going to stop until we get those answers.”
The California firm shut its doors abruptly last week, firing workers. It filed for bankruptcy this week. The company’s failure came after officials in the Department of Energy had spent two years touting the company’s promise, and fast-tracked Solyndra through the normally cumbersome process of securing hundreds of millions in federal funds. All that help caught the attention of federal auditors, who questioned why the Energy Department granted it conditional loan approval even before completing the legal and financial reviews that were typically required.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/solyndra-congress-calls-hearing-loan-connected-firm/story?id=14467252
Another complicated shovel ready scheme down the toilet. You can also add this to the SCOAMF’s growing list of corrupt, impeachable crimes.
Oh, and lookie here, the DOE sat in on some of Solyndra’s board meetings.
I’m interested in seeing just how serious the Republicans in Congress are about going after Obama’s latest abuse of office.