SOLYNDRAGATE UPDATE…

CBS News has exclusive video of Solyndra employees unwrapping brand new glass tubes there were used in solar panels last week and throwing them into dumpsters. These tubes cost at least $2 million a piece and Solyndra still owes the company that made them, $8 million. Meanwhile, Solyndra still owes the American taxpayer $535 million.

Solyndra is one of the biggest crony capitalist deals that Obama has conducted since becoming president. The cronyism started in the months prior to the approval of the Solyndra loan by the Department of Energy in March of 2009, when billionaire and Obama bundler, George Kaiser, held numerous meetings with the White House about the pending loan.

George Kaiser holds the biggest stake in the now defunct Solyndra.

White House logs revealed that Solyndra executives and investors held four separate visits the week before the company received its cut of your stimulus cash. Those meetings all took place while a White House budget analyst warned in an email that, “this deal is not ready for prime time.”

On May 26, 2010, Obama visited Solyndra, boasted about the loan and said, “the true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra.” He praised Solyndra as a Recovery Act (stimulus) success story.

On September 6, 2011, Solyndra filed for bankruptcy. The immediate result was the layoff of 1,100 workers.

The scandal took another turn when, on September 8, 2011, the FBI raided Solyndra’s headquarters.

Obama was so impressed with the failed solar company that the administration wanted to give it another $469 million on top of the $535 million to make it an even billion dollars in taxpayer cash.

CBS San Francisco reported:
After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.

At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.

Forklifts brought one pallet after another piled high with the carefully packaged glass. Slowly but surely it all ended up shattered.

And it’s not a few loads. Hundreds of thousands of tubes on shrink-wrapped pallets will meet a similar demise.

Solyndra paid at least $2 million for the specialized glass. A CBS 5 crew found one piece lying in the parking lot. Solyndra still owes the German company that made the tubes close to another $8 million.

So why is a bankrupt company that owes a fortune to creditors, including American taxpayers, throwing away millions of dollars worth of assets?

Solyndra is not commenting. But court documents reveal the company received permission from the bankruptcy trustee to abandon the high grade glass, the court agreeing that it was of “inconsequential value” because the cost of storing them exceeds their value.

An employee for Heritage Global Partners, the company in charge of selling Solyndra’s assets, told CBS 5 they conducted an exhaustive search for buyers but no one wanted them.

But how exhaustive was that search? The tubes were never included on the list of Solyndra assets put up for sale at two auctions last year.

If they were, David Lucky told CBS 5 he would have bought them. “We certainly would have bid on them, yes,” Lucky said.

Related: Unreal: Taxpayer-Funded Solyndra Asks Bankruptcy Court For Permission To Hand Out $500K In Bonuses
Grand Jury Begins Investigation Into Solyndra
Taxpayers To Pay $13,000 Per Person To Retrain Solyndra Employees
Energy Secretary Chu Defends How Obama Admin Handled Solyndra
Solyndra Emails Show The Obama Administration Pushed Them To Keep Layoffs Quiet Until After 2010 Elections
White House Emails Show Rahm Emanuel Urged White House To Promote Solyndra
White House Was Warned Of ‘Coming Storm’ Over Solyndra ‘And Other Inside Energy Deals’
Solyndra Email: “They About Had An Orgasm In Biden’s Office When We Mentioned Solyndra”
White House Ignores Solyndra Subpoena Deadline
Emails Prove White House Lied, Billionaire Obama Donor, Kaiser, Discussed Solyndra Deal With WH
Solyndra Rails In $6.2 Million From Asset Auction, Taxpayers Rail In Zip
WHITE HOUSE SUBPOENAED — All Solyndra Documents Must Be Turned Over
Obama Considered Bailout For Solyndra Before It Went Bankrupt
Solyndra Executives Cashed In Before Filing For Bankruptcy
Energy Secretary Steven Chu To Testify To Congress On November 17 About Solyndra
Solyndra-Connected Fundraiser Still Working For Obama Reelection Campaign
Solyndra To Auction Off Assets, U.S. Taxpayers Won’t See A Penny
CRONY CAPITALISM – IRS Gave Now Bankrupt Solyndra Special Tax Break
Obama Refuses To Turn Over Solyndra Documents
Obama Ignored Legal Warnings On Solyndra Loan Guarantee
Solyndra Emails Show Obama Was Poised To Approve Second Loan For $469 Million
Obama Warned Not To Visit Solyndra By Senior Officials, Didn’t Want To Embarrass Him Later
WTF – Obama Says He Doesn’t Regret Loan To Solyndra, Calls It a “Good Bet”
FBI Probing Solyndra For Possible Fraud
SOLARGATE UPDATE: Solyndra Said To Have Violated Terms Of Its U.S. Loan
Concerns About Solyndra Loan Progarm Were Raised Directly To Obama During White House Meetings
It Just Got Better… Solyndra Bankruptcy Docs List California Democratic Party As Creditor

Read my Washington Times Communities Column: Obama’s Solyndra Fiasco

For the latest on the Solyndra scandal, click here.