SOLYNDRA-GATE: What You Need To Know About The Scandal Threatening The Obama Presidency
Zeke Miller | Sep. 16, 2011, 12:03 PM | 6,044 | 60

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When Solyndra went bankrupt last month it blew the lid off a scandal that had been simmering for months — and now threatens to ensnare the administration in months of hearings and bad headlines going into the 2012 election.

There is no evidence, nor is it likely, that Obama had any ties to the controversial $535 million loan, but already senior advisors are under fire for their roles in assisting the struggling company — which had strong ties to a key Obama donor.

George Kaiser, whose Argonaut Private Equity was a major backer of Solyndra, raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama's 2008 campaign, though the White House denies this was why it maintained close ties to the company.

ABC News reported that administration officials sat in on Solyndra board meetings as observers in the months leading up to the company's bankruptcy.

Even before the loan was approved in September 2009, auditors raised serious doubts about the company's finances, Bloomberg reported — enough to write that the “problems raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.â€