Source. (freebeacon.com)
President Joe Biden's departing green energy loan czar this week finalized a controversial $1.6 billion federal loan to a green energy company with which he had prior financial ties—a farewell shot at federal investigators who have been probing conflicts of interest in his lending office.
The Department of Energy's loan to Plug Power, a hydrogen fuel developer, comes months after Republican lawmakers raised concerns about the company's past business relationship with DOE Loan Programs Office director Jigar Shah. Shortly before joining the Biden administration, Shah invested $100 million in Plug Power through a green financial firm he founded called Generate Capital, the Washington Free Beacon first reported last year.
The funding announcement comes just weeks after the department's inspector general called on Shah to immediately halt all loans from the Loan Programs Office, citing a "significant risk of fraud" and conflict-of-interest concerns within the lending program. The LPO eschewed the warning and has pumped out billions to companies in the final weeks of the Biden administration.
The Plug Power announcement is likely to fuel Republican criticism of Shah's tenure at the LPO, which ballooned from a near-dormant program during President-elect Donald Trump's first term to a $400 billion spending powerhouse under Biden.
called Generate Capital
"Get yer money laundering here!" (Said in my best carnival barker.)
Could they be any more blatant!
