Posted on 10/17/2011 4:46:31 PM PDT by jazusamo
Suspicions mount about Energy Department’s gift to Obama pals
Gambling is a risky proposition - but not when playing with loaded dice. That’s what Solyndra’s private investors were handed when the Energy Department guaranteed they’d have first dibs on compensation if the firm went belly up. This unfairly shifted the peril of investing in an uneconomical solar-panel scheme onto the backs of taxpayers. We’re the ones stuck with the $535 million bill.
Congress is examining how this sweetheart deal went through. When Solyndra’s bottom line started looking dodgy earlier this year, Energy restructured the loan so private investors, including Oklahoma billionaire and Obama fundraiser George Kaiser, would be first in line to get their money when it defaulted, which occurred when the company declared bankruptcy on Aug. 31.
On Friday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight and investigations panel released documents in which Treasury Department officials expressed the belief that by giving priority to private investors, the department had run afoul of a 2005 law, the Energy Policy Act. According to Energy Department regulations, government loans “shall be subject to the condition that the obligation is not subordinate to other financing.” However, Susan Richardson, chief counsel for the department’s loan program, drew a distinction in a Feb. 15 memo between issuing the Solyndra loan and restructuring it. Since the company’s loan was “restructured,” she argued, the ban on subordination didn’t apply, allowing private investors to jump to the head of the line.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
We need to have maobama’s blackberry and it’s secrets
Man! His blackberry would open a can of worms if it got out. :)
Someone in Energy needs to hang over this.
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