The Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) issued Wells Notices to the brokers (Advanced Equities, Inc) who raised most of the private financing for taxpayer-backed Fisker Automotive in connection with a private offering in 2009. A Wells Notices tells the recipients that charges may be brought against them. According to SEC.com, “Receiving a Wells Notice is hardly a positive event, as it signifies that you are the subject of an investigation and that enforcement proceedings are going to be commenced against you”.
There is speculation that this action by the SEC followed the filing of a lawsuit against Fisker and Advanced Equities by investor, Daniel Wray, for their alleged failure to perform fiduciary duties and for fraud, according to a posting by the National Legal and Policy Center. This may be why the Energy Department (DOE) is holding up further distribution of a loan set aside for Fisker. As noted in previous postings DOE said Fisker had not met the required “milestones”.
The National Legal and Policy Center posting, written by Paul Chesser, does some editorializing that is pretty much on the mark.
“It seems every week taxpayers learn something new about the clean energy “bets” the Obama administration has demanded they finance – especially Fisker. So far, before the loan was halted, $193 million in public money poured into the maker of an EV that only rich people can afford, who also get a $7,500 tax credit (plus whatever California is handing out lately) per vehicle purchase to boot. Beyond that the taxpayer support for Fisker enhanced the stock of its political allies like Kleiner Perkins (where Gore is a senior partner), and also helped pay for connected lobbyists to get the loan, while crony lawyers got paid to work inside DOE to see the loan to completion.
And now we discover The Chicago Way may have been behind Fisker’s private fundraising, and the SEC plans to find out more. This dog has a lot of fleas.
Last week, the President announced that he wants to up the rebate for the purchase of a hybrid or an EV. Currently the buyer can to receive up to a $7500 tax credit. Obama now wants to give the buyer a $10,000 check at the time of purchase.
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Climate Change Sanity 