Energy Department To Question Fisker On Loan Payment Failure

Struggling start-up automaker Fisker Automotive Inc. did not make a $10 million loan payment to the Energy Department on Monday as it races to find a buyer or new investor and considers a possible bankruptcy.

Energy Department spokeswoman Aoife McCarthy said the government recouped earlier this month $21 million of the $192 million it loaned to Fisker. An Energy Department official confirmed Fisker had not made the payment.

"Given the obvious difficulties the company is facing, we are taking strong and appropriate action on behalf of taxpayers," McCarthy said.

"Using the safeguards we write into our loan agreements, the department stopped disbursing on the loan in June 2011 after the company fell short of the aggressive milestones that we had established as a condition of the loan," she said. "As a result, while our original loan commitment was for $529 million, only $192 million was actually disbursed."

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