Go bankrupt, win a taxpayer funded prize:

[American_Jihad]

Go bankrupt, win a taxpayer funded prize: A123 Systems received million dollar DOE grant payment on same day it declared Chapter 11​

By Doug Powers • November 16, 2012

Last month Michelle wrote about A123 Systems declaring bankruptcy. A123 was one of the many “clean energy grant” recipients that ended up going under and taking a pile of taxpayer cash with it — a pile that was made even bigger on its final day. In a demonstration of the kind of diligence we’ve come to expect from this administration, the Department of Energy gave A123 Systems a nearly million dollar payment on the same day the company declared bankruptcy:

The company, which makes lithium ion batteries for electric cars, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after a rescue deal with Chinese auto parts supplier Wanxiang Group fell apart.

That same day, October 16, A123 received a $946,830 payment as part of its $249 million clean energy grant from the Energy Department, the company said in a letter, obtained by Reuters, to Republican Senators John Thune and Chuck Grassley.

In the letter, dated November 14, A123 said the October payment was the most recent disbursement it had received from the government, with an additional $115.8 million still outstanding on the grant.

More from Business Week:

The payment was made after A123 in August announced it planned to give Wanxiang Group Corp., China’s largest auto-parts maker, a majority stake in exchange for financing. Grassley and Thune had questioned the Chinese investment in the U.S. company.

“All of this paints a disturbing picture,” Grassley and Thune said in an e-mailed statement. “The Department of Energy is writing checks to a company literally as it is declaring bankruptcy.”

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Michelle Malkin » Go bankrupt, win a taxpayer funded prize: A123 Systems received million dollar DOE grant payment on same day it declared Chapter 11

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[waltky]

Granny says it sounds like a sweet-heart deal fer China...

U.S. wary of Chinese bidder for bankrupt battery maker
Monday, December 10, 2012 - Green grantee also is defense contractor

Democratic and Republican politicians alike hailed the news in 2009 that U.S. battery maker A123 Systems had won a quarter-billion-dollar federal grant, but just three years later, the company finds itself bankrupt and the target of a buyout by a Chinese competitor. The Massachusetts-based company filed for bankruptcy protection this year, setting the stage for an auction watched closely by Washington lawmakers and the Obama administration alike. While the Obama administration has contended it should have a say in who takes over the company, the secretive auction held in the offices of a Chicago law firm started Thursday and ended with word that the winner was Chinese-based Wanxiang Group Corp.

Just weeks earlier, Democratic and Republican members of Congress had raised concerns about Wanxiang in a sharply worded letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. Among other concerns, the politicians said that little public information was available about the internal structure, governance and ownership of Wanxiang. “This proposed transaction raises significant national security and public policy considerations that, if not appropriately addressed, would impair U.S. national security and threaten America’s innovation leadership and job creation,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, Michigan Republican.

Mr. Huizenga said he was concerned in particular that A123 has multiple U.S. defense contracts worth millions of dollars, and he worried that sensitive military secrets could wind up in the hands of foreign agents. “These contracts involve military vehicles, unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles, power grids, unmanned ground and portable power systems, high-energy lasers and advanced armor,” he said. “Should any adverse foreign agent working through Wanxiang gain access to these contracts, such access would be extremely detrimental to U.S. military operations.”

Under the proposed purchase, A123's government contracting business would not go to Wanxiang but to another U.S.-based company, Navitas Systems. But the situation did little to allay the concerns of Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and John Thune of South Dakota, who issued a joint statement Monday calling for a “full review” of the bankruptcy transaction by the Treasury Department, which also must approve the deal. “In the end, the taxpayers will be left having to repay interest to China for a business that a Chinese company now owns,” the lawmakers said.

MORE

 

[American_Jihad]

Granny says it sounds like a sweet-heart deal fer China...

U.S. wary of Chinese bidder for bankrupt battery maker
Monday, December 10, 2012 - Green grantee also is defense contractor

Democratic and Republican politicians alike hailed the news in 2009 that U.S. battery maker A123 Systems had won a quarter-billion-dollar federal grant, but just three years later, the company finds itself bankrupt and the target of a buyout by a Chinese competitor. The Massachusetts-based company filed for bankruptcy protection this year, setting the stage for an auction watched closely by Washington lawmakers and the Obama administration alike. While the Obama administration has contended it should have a say in who takes over the company, the secretive auction held in the offices of a Chicago law firm started Thursday and ended with word that the winner was Chinese-based Wanxiang Group Corp.

Just weeks earlier, Democratic and Republican members of Congress had raised concerns about Wanxiang in a sharply worded letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. Among other concerns, the politicians said that little public information was available about the internal structure, governance and ownership of Wanxiang. “This proposed transaction raises significant national security and public policy considerations that, if not appropriately addressed, would impair U.S. national security and threaten America’s innovation leadership and job creation,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, Michigan Republican.

Mr. Huizenga said he was concerned in particular that A123 has multiple U.S. defense contracts worth millions of dollars, and he worried that sensitive military secrets could wind up in the hands of foreign agents. “These contracts involve military vehicles, unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles, power grids, unmanned ground and portable power systems, high-energy lasers and advanced armor,” he said. “Should any adverse foreign agent working through Wanxiang gain access to these contracts, such access would be extremely detrimental to U.S. military operations.”

Under the proposed purchase, A123's government contracting business would not go to Wanxiang but to another U.S.-based company, Navitas Systems. But the situation did little to allay the concerns of Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and John Thune of South Dakota, who issued a joint statement Monday calling for a “full review” of the bankruptcy transaction by the Treasury Department, which also must approve the deal. “In the end, the taxpayers will be left having to repay interest to China for a business that a Chinese company now owns,” the lawmakers said.

MORE

That's the green movement, take the green from the taxpayer to their pocket...

I need to start a green company or open a carbon bank...