I believe it when they say there was no crony capitalism involved.
In addition I believe Argonaut Ventures I majority owner, Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser,when he says he played no role in procuring the loan guarantee despite Argonaut's Dec. 2008 investment in Solyndra of $220 million and Kaiser being a "bundler"of campaign funds for the Obama-Biden campaign.*
Furthermore, I believe the company when they say they pulled their $300 million IPO because of last June's market conditions and not because their auditor Pricewaterhouse Coopers gave them a going concern letter.
On March 17th I shall believe in leprechauns.
For a few hours.
From the New York Times:
Poor record-keeping by the Energy Department has made it difficult for managers to document how decisions were reached in its $71 billion loan guarantee program, the department’s inspector general said in an audit released on Monday.
By the end of last year, the department had made eight loan guarantees totaling $3.9 billion and made conditional commitments for another $12 billion under the program, which was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, during the Bush administration. The first loan offer did not come through until March 2009, after President Obama had taken office and the program had received more money under the stimulus act.
The new audit examined 18 loans or conditional loan commitments and found that for three, no information had been placed in the department’s central archives. Only limited data was kept for 12, said the report from the inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman.
The report did not identify the projects that fell into either category or judge the quality of any of the loan decisions. But it warned that poor record-keeping “leaves the department open to criticism that it may have exposed the taxpayers to unacceptable risks associated with these borrowers.”
The guarantees have gone to solar companies, battery companies and other ventures with clean energy technologies that are too untried to qualify for ordinary commercial financing.Solyndra's S-1 Registration Statement, Dec. 18, 2009
Officials in the loan guarantee program, a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s energy policy, told auditors that they based their loan decisions “on the professional judgment of experienced staff,” the report said. But many of the decisions “resulted from informal deliberations or were documented in e-mails that were not maintained,” it added....MORE
*Barron's D.C. Current | SATURDAY, JULY 10, 2010
Previously:
Oct. 8, 2008
Was Solyndra the Reason Goldman Sachs Threw First Solar Under the Bus? (FSLR; GS; SPWRA)
January 16, 2009
First Solar Snags Rival Solyndra’s Top Scientist (FSLR)
Dec. 23, 2009
What is Solyndra’s Cost Per Watt? (SOLY; FSLR; TSL)
April 6, 2010
"The Daily Start-Up: Auditor Questions Solyndra’s Viability" (Going Concern Warning) GS; FSLR
June 18, 2010
Solar upstart Solyndra mothballs IPO plans (Funny what a 'Going Concern" Letter will Do) GS
Okay kids, we (You, me, the U.S. Govvy) just gave these guys a $535 Mil. loan guarantee.
One of their investors is an outfit called Goldman Sachs which advertises that they bring companies public.
What is going on?...
