E-mails released by House Republicans suggest the Department of Energy (DOE) wanted now-bankrupt Solyndra to delay layoffs until after the midterm elections last year.
Solyndra received a $535 million loan from the Obama administration, but went bankrupt in September and was raided by the FBI.
Solyndra’s primary investor, Argonaut Private Equity, said in an e-mail that the DOE asked the firm to put off the layoff announcement until Nov. 3. The midterm elections were held the day before.
“They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3—oddly they didn’t give a reason for that date,” said an investor in an e-mail in October 2010.
A spokesperson from the DOE told USA Today that “the department’s decisions about this loan were made on the merits, based on extensive review by the experts in the loan program—and nothing in this Republican committee memo changes that.”
