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发帖数: 29846 | 1 A grand jury has begun investigating Solyndra LLC, the failed California
solar-panel maker that lost more than a half-billion dollars in federal
loans, according to law-firm billing records.
Weeks after Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in September, a judge allowed the
company to hire a law firm to represent it in what court records at the time
called a “federal criminal investigation.”
Now the firm, K&L Gates, has filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Delaware a detailed, hour-by-hour account of how attorneys have been
spending their time. Most of their efforts have focused on what the firm
called the U.S. attorney’s office and Department of Justice investigation
of Solyndra.
In an 18-page invoice from the law firm dated Dec. 9, the words “grand jury
” appear numerous times: “Prepare response to grand jury subpoena,” one
entry reads. Another said, “Review and prepare documents to respond to
grand jury subpoena.”
The invoices also point to a meeting on Oct. 14 between K&L Gates attorney
Jeffrey L. Bornstein, a former federal prosecutor in San Francisco, and an
assistant U.S. attorney identified in the billing records only as “J.
Nedrow.”
Jeffrey Nedrow is an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of
California, which is the same office overseeing the Solyndra investigation.
Mr. Nedrow was a prosecutor in the criminal trial against former San
Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds.
Yet another entry refers to a telephone call with “AUSA” — an
abbreviation in legal circles that refers to assistant U.S. attorney — “
regarding grand jury subpoena.”
The formation of an investigative grand jury would mark a significant
development in the criminal investigation into Solyndra, which saw its
offices raided by the FBI within days of its bankruptcy filing in September.
“The subpoenas would be just the tip of the iceberg,” said Laurie Levenson
, a former federal prosecutor and now a law professor at Loyola Law School
in Los Angeles. “The first things to happen in grand juries are subpoenas
to collect every possible document you can.”
Federal authorities aren’t commenting on the probe. Jack Gillund, a
spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to comment Tuesday when
asked about a grand jury.
In an email Tuesday, Mr. Bornstein said, “Solyndra is continuing to
cooperate with the United States Attorney’s Office in connection with its
investigation.”
Grand jury subpoena
When Solyndra first sought to hire K&L Gates as special counsel, attorneys
for the solar company cited the firm’s familiarity with the federal
investigation and “many of the potential issues that may arise in the
context of that investigation and potential litigation.”
K&L Gates attorneys reported 326 hours of work from Sept. 12 to Nov. 30,
with rates ranging from $310 per hour for a paralegal to $640 per hour for
Mr. Bornstein, who worked just over 80 hours. Another attorney worked about
50 hours at a rate of $525 per hour.
In recent court papers, the law firm described its work representing
Solyndra as being “in connection with the United States Attorney’s Office
& Department of Justice investigation of debtors.” The firm said in the
filings that it worked with Solyndra on the production and review of
documents, as well as responding “to subpoenas and other law enforcement
requests.”
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"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary."
--- Ernesto "Che" Guevara
看某些人的帖子有感，五千年的奴性文化的熏陶，真不是盖的。
管你在美国呆一辈子，也还一样。 |
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