Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Surprise! Treasury IG probing multi-million-dollar fraud in green-energy grants, tax credits
Hot Air ^ | 12:41 pm on December 14, 2012 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 12/14/2012 11:25:40 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

And the probe doesn’t involve some bit players in an obscure program, either.  The 1603 Program was one of the centerpieces of Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus, designed to subsidize a transition from hydrocarbon-based energy to renewables in the residential market, and federal government sunk $13 billion into the effort.  Now the Inspector General of Treasury has opened a probe of the three largest providers of solar panel installations, who gained the most from the 1603 Program, and who may have fraudulently calculated their bills in order to claim more taxpayer cash:

Three of the country’s most prolific installers of residential solar panels are under federal investigation to determine if they inflated the cost of their work to increase the payments they would receive from the government, according to government and industry officials familiar with the probe.

SolarCitySunRun and Sungevity have received subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work. The probe seeks to determine whether the companies accurately reported the market value of their costs when applying for federal reimbursement, which was calculated at one-third of the costs.

The solar companies received money through the Treasury’s $13 billion program, known as the 1603 program, which used funds from President Obama’s stimulus initiative to offer cash grants to clean-energy developers. The goal was to spur the spread of wind farms, solar panels and other clean power sources nationwide.

SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity have been by far the largest recipients among companies installing solar panels on homes. Working heavily in the sunny states of California and Arizona, the three firms collected hundreds of millions of dollars in federal cash grants to pick up a share of their costs on thousands of home installations during the past three years.

You know who’s missing from this story?  Sheriff Joe Biden.  Recall that when critics of the $800 billion porkfest predicted widespread fraud, Obama put Biden in charge of making sure that the money didn’t go to scams, which Biden admitted a few months later was an unachievable goal.  Obama himself warned that his wrath would be mighty indeed if local-government recipients of Porkulus cash got sticky fingers.

Perhaps they didn’t have enough room at the Ritz Carlton for Biden to invite scrutiny of the three largest players in the 1603 Program.  It’s tough to find parking there, after all.

And here’s another shocker:

SolarCity and SunRun have been generous political supporters of Obama. At SolarCity, for example, officials in the company and its two key venture capital firm backers, along with their relatives, donated an estimated $579,000 to Obama in 2008 and 2012, according to campaign reports.

Lucky for Obama that the announcement of the IG probe happened after the election, then.  What a coincidence!


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 1603program; bide; biden; bundlers; donors; globalwarminghoax; greenenergy; investigation; joebiden; obama; obamabundlers; obamadonors; pork; porkulus; scam; solar; solarcity; solarpanels; spending; stimulus; sungevity; sunrun; treasurydepartment; waste; wind; windfarms
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

1 posted on 12/14/2012 11:25:51 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOLYNDRA FILES THAT THE FBI REMOVED THE FIRST DAY THAT STORY BROKE?


2 posted on 12/14/2012 11:27:36 AM PST by Mr. K (some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv; Marine_Uncle; Fred Nerks; Carry_Okie; blam; Lorianne; Twotone; bigbob; NormsRevenge; ...

Any one surprised?


3 posted on 12/14/2012 11:30:09 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K

I don’t have them.....must be in a safe place by now.....


4 posted on 12/14/2012 11:32:32 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Noting will come of this - too close to the WH clown - move along.


5 posted on 12/14/2012 11:36:59 AM PST by Cheerio (Barry Hussein Soetoro-0bama=The Complete Destruction of American Capitalism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

“SolarCity and SunRun have been generous political supporters of Obama.”

Criminal money laundering, plain and simple.


6 posted on 12/14/2012 11:41:49 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

It’s long been a tactic to have an “investigation” as a tactic to insulate the officials involved from the press. Whenever they’re asked about it, they can’t comment because it’s “under investigation”.


7 posted on 12/14/2012 11:44:05 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Many of these companies—a dozen or so—were near insolvent when they received grants or loans. That seems to be a common thread. It’s possible these corporations were vehicles for stealing and laundering millions in Stimulus/DOE money. What made the Stimulus appropriations ideal for theft was the sheer size of the bill. It was impossible to adequately monitor almost a $1 trillion mostly dispersed over a few months. And this when the thieves controlled the regulators.


8 posted on 12/14/2012 11:44:17 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Biden couldn’t manage a one car parade.


9 posted on 12/14/2012 11:44:52 AM PST by TurboZamboni (Looting the future to bribe the present)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MrB

Nearly all of the so-called Green Energy ventures are money launderies.

BTW, I mentioned that to Michael Savage, and I was called a tin foil hat kook.


10 posted on 12/14/2012 11:49:39 AM PST by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is the operational wing of CPUSA.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The Obama Administration is the most corrupt administration in the history of America. It is amazing to me that the Congressional leadership is not investigating this and holding hearings. The Republican leadership are too busy purging principled conservative members to undertake their constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities.
11 posted on 12/14/2012 11:53:22 AM PST by detective
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: detective

The House Oversight committee is full up on Benghazi and “Fast and Furious”....dead bodies involved with those.


12 posted on 12/14/2012 11:57:09 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Cheerio

I’m with you - dems don’t ‘fight’ corruption - they use it to feather their nests - and reward friends. My guess? The Treasury IG will be looking for a job soon and the New York Times won’t care about this story.


13 posted on 12/14/2012 12:31:51 PM PST by GOPJ (Detroit should be renamed 'Michael Mooresville'...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The House Oversight committee is full up on Benghazi and “Fast and Furious”....dead bodies involved with those.

....about which the House Hindsight committee will do

NOTHING!!!

When it's ALL over, if I am wrong, I will apologize for my total lack of confidence in ANYTHING our government does.
14 posted on 12/14/2012 12:52:50 PM PST by Roccus (POLITICIAN...............a four letter word spelled with ten letters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Another $13 billion down the drain.


15 posted on 12/14/2012 1:04:31 PM PST by Marine_Uncle (I'm going John Galt.... But. Honor must be earned.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Funneling taxpayer funds to the Democrat Party scheme, similar to legally required Union dues.


16 posted on 12/14/2012 1:25:52 PM PST by Paladin2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Does anyone know a way to get a list of all green companies that got stimulus monies? I’m looking for one in particular.


17 posted on 12/14/2012 1:38:38 PM PST by bgill (We've passed the point of no return. Welcome to Al Amerika.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Surprise! Treasury IG probing multi-million-dollar fraud in green-energy grants, tax credits

I take this to mean that Ubama's "Treasury IG" is cleaning up the mess, getting rid of incriminating materials, and orchestrating the whitewash? That's what this means, right?

18 posted on 12/14/2012 1:43:50 PM PST by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Lancey Howard

I hope not!


19 posted on 12/14/2012 2:57:41 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Fred Hayek
Nearly all of the so-called Green Energy ventures are money launderies.

Everyone I've ever talked to about it overwhelmingly thought it was money laundering. ALL the companies went bust, the funds simply disappeared, and the tax payers were stuck paying the bill. It was clearly money laundering according to the people I've talked to. There was no question about it. Not one person disagreed, and not all of them voted Republican. At lest 4 of them were life long democrats (who chose not to vote at all this time, BTW).

20 posted on 12/14/2012 3:15:51 PM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson