FBI Raids Obama Favorite and Now-Bankrupt Solyndra

by Stephan Tawney on September 8, 2011

Federal authorities this morning raided the now-closing Solyndra solar company — a pet project of the Obama Administration, which mysteriously provided the non-viable company with $535 million in l0w-interest loans.

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.

Last year, Barack Obama touted Solyndra as a positive example of what government subsidies for unpopular green technology companies could do for the economy.

Well, the company certainly appears to have provided federal investigators and inspectors general with something to do.

And as ABC News noted yesterday, taxpayers are behind billionaire George Kaiser in recouping investment losses. Kaiser is one of the main backers of Solyndra — and just happens to be a major donor to the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.

You’ll never guess which now-bankrupt, non-under investigation solar company paid lots of visits to the Obama White House over a two year period. Can you guess? Here’s a hint:

Not only does the now-bankrupt solar energy firm Solyndra have a cozy financial relationship with the Obama administration, company representatives also made numerous visits to the White House to meet with administration officials, The Daily Caller has learned.

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.

George Kaiser, who has in the past been labeled a major Solyndra investor as well as a Obama donor, made three visits to the White House on March 12, 2009, and one on March 13. Kaiser has denied any direct involvement in the Solyndra deal and through a statement from his foundation said he “did not participate in any discussions with the U.S. government regarding the loan.”

But the countless meetings at the White House seem hardly coincidental. Kaiser, in fact, is responsible for 16 of the 20 meetings that showed up on the White House logs.

George Kaiser, a major bundler for Obama, decides to get behind a non-viable solar company. His people then start paying visits to the White House, and a week later the administration announces it’s providing low-interest loans totaling a half-billion dollars to the company. What a coincidence.

And now the company is under federal investigation at the behest of the inspector general at the Department of Energy.

(If you’re unfamiliar, the inspector general is technically an independent actor who really shouldn’t be fired by the president for political reasons.)

How long before the Obama Justice Department stops complying with the inspector general? Or before the Obama Administration has the IG fired, as they did with IG Gerald Walpin when he got a little too close to uncovering corruption?



Leave a Reply