By Karen Gullo
Bloomberg
Solyndra LLC, the bankrupt solar- panel maker that received a $535 million U.S. government loan guarantee, accused Suntech Power Holdings Co. and other Chinese companies of destroying it by running an illegal cartel.
Solyndra, which sought bankruptcy protection in August 2011, is seeking compensation “for the loss of the $1.5 billion value of its business and more which defendants destroyed,” lawyers for the company said in a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in San Francisco.
The defendants schemed with each other, raw material suppliers and certain lenders to flood the U.S. solar market with solar panels at below-cost prices, the Fremont, California-based company said in the complaint. Panel prices for Suntech, the biggest solar-panel maker, and the other two companies moved in tandem, falling 75 percent in four years in the U.S. market, Solyndra said.
