Ohio reaches $1.5M settlement with Buckeye Silicon
2/19/2014COLUMBUS — The state of Ohio reached a $1.5 million settlement with Buckeye Silicon, a South Toledo polysilicon manufacturer that failed to repay almost $3 million in taxpayer-funded loans from the state.
“This settlement and payment is a significant recovery of taxpayer funds, especially given that these types of debts are historically very difficult to recover,” Ohio Attorney General DeWine said in a statement. “I am pleased that our office was successful in protecting the interests of Ohio taxpayers by securing this payment.”
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Buckeye Silicon, which was featured in a Blade investigation of firms that failed to create jobs and possibly misused millions in state funding, never launched. The state failed to properly vet the firm, whose parent company is registered to a mailbox in Las Vegas.
Buckeye Silicon has sat nearly vacant for years and had no more than two employees on site during visits from the Blade.
The Ohio Development Services Agency, which loaned Buckeye Silicon $1.3 million, took legal action against Toledo’s Buckeye Silicon four days after The Blade asked agency officials if they were aware of an international investigation into its chairman.