The Texas Attorney General’s Office filed an agreed final judgment on Nov. 23, 2015, against solar panel company 1SolTech Inc. and its three principals over panels that the state said were imported from China but sold with “Made in the USA” stickers. The defendants agreed to pay more than $8.5 million and to stop misrepresenting where their panels were made.
What the state found
- State investigators said the defendants labeled Chinese panels with “Made in the USA” stickers and shipped them to buyers.
- Buyers included the U.S. government, which installed the panels on military bases and at airports. The attorney general’s office said those taxpayer-funded projects legally required USA-made materials.
- The state also said the panels were not certified to UL 1703, the U.S. safety and performance standard for solar panels, and were a fire hazard. The company must notify customers about that risk.
The judgment
The agreed judgment, filed in Travis County District Court, resolved a lawsuit the state brought in September 2013 against 1SolTech and Sandy Fardi, Hossein “Zak” Fardi and Ali Enrique Razavi. 1SolTech will pay $5.8 million in civil penalties and attorney’s fees and more than $2.7 million in restitution to affected consumers. The company filed for bankruptcy in October 2014 and was unable to stop the state’s suit.
Source & credit
Sources: Texas Attorney General’s Office: “Texas Attorney General’s Office Obtains Judgment Halting Unlawful Operations of Dallas-Area Solar Panel Company”, Nov. 23, 2015; NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth: “North Texas Solar Panel Company to Pay $8.5M in Fraud Case”, Nov. 24, 2015; Dallas Business Journal: “Farmers Branch solar panel firm ordered to pay $8.5M for false ‘Made in the USA’ claims”, Nov. 25, 2015.