Solyndra, Part III UPDATE

We’ve done two posts about Solyndra recently.  The first explained that the solar panel manufacturing company which had received $535 million in loan guarantees as part of the Stimulus Bill, had abrubtly closed its doors last week.  The second explained that one of the Solyndra investors was a Tulsa billionaire who, coincidently, had contributed to the President Obama’s campaign.

Now, on to part three.

This morning, two days after the company filed for bankruptcy, the FBI arrived at the plant at 7 am to issue a search warrant.  The warrant was requested by the Inspector General’s office of the Department of Energy, and, as of now, the factual allegations to support the issuance of the warrant have been sealed by the court.

Solyndra spokesman, Dave Miller said,

…he did not know the purpose of the search, but he speculated it could have something to do with the $535 million in loan guarantees the Department of Energy awarded to Solyndra, a company President Obama visited in May 2010, touting the company as the wave of clean technology and the future for alternative fuel sources.

Gee, ya think?

Update:

As was caught by one of the commentators below, Solyndra officials, indeed, did make over 20 trips to the White House between March 2009 and April 2011.  However, there is even more bad news.

Solyndra never did turn a profit and laid off employees in November.  But in February the company renegotiated its loan guarantee [with the Department of Energy]–with a hitch.  Under the new agreement, Solyndra’s investors would loan the company $75 million but be first in line on repayment in the event of bankruptcy, in front of taxpayers.

So, someone in the Department of Energy thought it would be a good idea to renegotiate a loan with a company in serious financial difficulty, while, at the same time, agreeing to give up the government’s position as the first creditor to be paid in the event the company went bankrupt.

What a sweet deal.