{"id":1945399,"date":"2023-06-06T13:36:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T17:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inappropriate-if-not-unethical-senator-unloads-on-granholm-for-misleading-investors-with-rushed-funding-award\/"},"modified":"2023-06-06T13:40:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T17:40:14","slug":"inappropriate-if-not-unethical-senator-unloads-on-granholm-for-misleading-investors-with-rushed-funding-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inappropriate-if-not-unethical-senator-unloads-on-granholm-for-misleading-investors-with-rushed-funding-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator criticizes Granholm for unethical behavior in misleading investors with hasty funding award."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finappropriate-if-not-unethical-senator-unloads-on-granholm-for-misleading-investors-with-rushed-funding-award%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1945399&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Biden Administration Accused of Misleading Investors with $200 Million Grant Announcement<\/h2>\n<div>\n<figure><figcaption>Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm testifies before Congress \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee has accused the Biden administration of misleading investors by prematurely announcing a $200 million grant to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inappropriate-if-not-unethical-senator-unloads-on-granholm-for-misleading-investors-with-rushed-funding-award\/\" title=\"Senator criticizes Granholm for unethical behavior in misleading investors with hasty funding award.\">lithium battery-maker<\/a> that was later revoked. This led to drastic fluctuations in the company&#8217;s stock price based on false information. <\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/winred.tomcotton.com\/tom-cotton\/defend-scotus-ads-beacon?utm_source=rc&#038;utm_medium=beaconads&#038;utm_campaign=2023maybeaconscotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/winred.tomcotton.com\/tom-cotton\/defend-scotus-ads-beacon?utm_source=rc&#038;utm_medium=beaconads&#038;utm_campaign=2023maybeaconscotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>The White House and the Department of Energy framed the funding for Microvast as a done deal in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-accuses-three-house-democrats-of-ethics-violations\/\" title=\"Watchdog Accuses Three House Democrats of Ethics Violations\">press releases<\/a> last October, but officials later said the companies were still being vetted after the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> uncovered the company&#8217;s extensive ties to China. The administration officially pulled the plug last month on the grant to lithium battery-maker Microvast after facing heat from Congress.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is irrefutable the White House and Department of Energy\u2019s deceptive press releases were a major catalyst in misleading investors,&#8221; said Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) in a <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/06.05.2023-Letter-to-DOE-re-Microvast-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm<\/a> on Monday. &#8220;It is clear that in the minds of investors the Department\u2019s loan to Microvast had been perceived as a guarantee.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Barrasso raised concerns in February that the Biden administration&#8217;s &#8220;misleading&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-doubling-spending-to-prepare-for-hurricanes-storms\/\" title=\"Biden Doubling Spending to Prepare for Hurricanes, Storms\">funding announcement<\/a> led to a surge in Microvast&#8217;s stock. His latest letter adds that the company&#8217;s stock also plummeted after the Department of Energy canceled the award, potentially resulting in losses for investors. Barrasso also said that Granholm&#8217;s agency was &#8220;delinquent&#8221; in responding to his request in May for more information about its decision to pull the funding.<\/p>\n<p>In the October press release, the White House said, &#8220;President Biden is announcing that the Department of Energy is awarding $2.8 billion in grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to 20 manufacturing and processing companies for projects across 12 states.&#8221; The DOE similarly released a list of the companies that it said &#8220;will receive a combined $2.8 billion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Microvast\u2019s stock surged 40 percent in a day on the heels of the Biden administration\u2019s funding announcement and dropped 36 percent after the Department of Energy said it was scrapping the award negotiation in May, according to Barrasso.<\/p>\n<p>Barrasso said the October announcement drew interest from investors on online forums such as Reddit, where one wrote, &#8220;Bought 300 shares today!&#8221; and another said, &#8220;17,000,000+ shares of volume in the past 30 minutes. [Microvast] to the moon!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is inappropriate if not unethical that the federal government has played such an outsized role in a single company\u2019s stock price,&#8221; said Barrasso, adding that the administration\u2019s announcements on the infrastructure funding &#8220;created massive fluctuations in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/everyone-will-need-to-pay-a-bit-more-tax-u-k-chancellor-says\/\" title=\"Everyone Will Need to Pay \"A Bit More Tax,\" U.K. Chancellor Says\">financial markets caused<\/a> by government misinformation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Barrasso asked Granholm to turn over records related to the department\u2019s award selection process by June 23.\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/winred.tomcotton.com\/tom-cotton\/defend-scotus-ads-beacon?utm_source=rc&#038;utm_medium=beaconads&#038;utm_campaign=2023maybeaconscotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/winred.tomcotton.com\/tom-cotton\/defend-scotus-ads-beacon?utm_source=rc&#038;utm_medium=beaconads&#038;utm_campaign=2023maybeaconscotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<h3>Background<\/h3>\n<p>The $200 million award to Microvast came under scrutiny from Congress in December, after the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> reported that the company operated primarily from China, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Microvast\u2019s CEO was also recruited to move back to China in 2000 through a Chinese government-sponsored &#8220;talent program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>DOE officials told Congress in February that Microvast and the other companies on the list had been selected to participate in award negotiations, but the funding wasn\u2019t finalized yet. The department announced that it had canceled its negotiations with Microvast last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate Energy Committee&#8217;s top Republican accused the Biden administration of deceiving investors by announcing a $200 million grant to a lithium battery-maker prematurely. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm testified before Congress regarding the matter. The announcement led to significant fluctuations in the company&#8217;s stock price based on false information, which has since been revoked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":1945400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[18417,6631,4385,3763,6513,16195,5311,11213,4012,13510],"class_list":["post-1945399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon","tag-hasty","tag-award","tag-behavior","tag-criticizes","tag-funding","tag-granholm","tag-investors","tag-misleading","tag-senator","tag-unethical"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1945399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1945400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1945399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1945399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1945399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}