Federal Loans | FBI Solyndra Raid: Misuse Of Federal Loans?
FBI agents executed search warrants Thursday at the headquarters of California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra , which received more than $500 million in federal loans before filing for bankruptcy last week.
Blue-jacket-clad agents swarmed the company’s headquarters in Fremont as part of an investigation with the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General into the manufacturer once touted by President Barack Obama as a beneficiary of economic stimulus, FBI spokeswoman Julianne Sohn said.
The agents carried evidence in dozens of boxes and bags out of Solyndra’s offices late Thursday afternoon, loading the items into a large white truck.
Sohn said she could not provide details about the investigation, including what agents were gathering as the search continued hours after the early morning raid. The agents were expected to finish their search Thursday.
Solyndra spokesman Dave Miller said agents were collecting documents but the company did not know the reason for the search. Company executives were on the premises but were not likely to make a statement Thursday, he said.
“It certainly was a shock this morning to arrive and see the FBI here,” Miller said.
The assumption was that the search was related to the loans, he said. Those loans ” part of the $862 billion economic stimulus package that Congress passed in 2009 ” have for months been the subject of a probe by the House Energy and Commerce Committee .
Republicans are using Solyndra’s financial woes as ammunition in attacking the effectiveness of the stimulus package. The raid Thursday morning came just hours before the president appears before both chambers of Congress to appeal for more legislation that would help the economy and reduce the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployment rate.
“The FBI raid further underscores that Solyndra was a bad bet from the beginning
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