Allen Barnett
Allen M. Barnett was a research professor of electrical engineering at the University of Delaware.[1] He was the principal investigator of the DARPA-funded Consortium for Very High Efficiency Solar cells.
Barnett graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1963 and earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1966.
Barnett founded the PV solar module manufacturing company, Astropower, Inc. in the mid-1990s and quickly grew to become one of the first solar module manufacturing firms in America. Barnett had taken the company public after its originating incubation origins within the University of Delaware's main campus in Newark, Delaware.
Despite early on solid growth, AstroPower stunned analysts and investors with their second quarter 2002 results. Revenue was $20.4 million representing (1%) one percent sequential growth and $4.9 million below analyst estimates, sparking nine class action lawsuits. The Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse has the AstroPower, Inc. Company and Case Information. The lawsuits allege that AstroPower misrepresented its financial and business status between Feb 22, 2002, and August 1, 2002. In addition to AstroPower, Inc., CEO Allen Barnett, Ph.D., and CFO Thomas Stiner are named as individual defendants.
- April 1, 2003 - AstroPower delayed the filing of 2002 fourth quarter and annual results to the SEC.
- April 21, 2003 - AstroPower, Inc. received a NASDAQ Staff Determination letter on April 17, 2003 indicating that AstroPower does not comply with the requirements for continued listing set forth in Marketplace Rule 4310 (c) (14) as a result of its failure to timely file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- May 27, 2003 - AstroPower's CEO Barnett and CFO Thomas Stiner resign.
- July 24, 2003 - AstroPower, Inc. Announces NASDAQ Delisting
- Full SEC litigation background and final determination can be found at:
- U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 20938 / March 10, 2009
- Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 2946 / March 10, 2009
- Securities and Exchange Commission v. Allen Barnett, et al., Civil Action No. 1:09-cv-00457 (D. D.C.) (EGS) (filed March 9, 2009)
- SEC BRINGS SETTLED ACTIONS AGAINST FORMER CEO AND CFO OF ASTROPOWER, INC. FOR THEIR ROLES IN FINANCIAL FRAUD
Astropower was finally sold to General Electric's GE Energy Division in final bankruptcy proceedings who, after holding the remains of the company for several years, sold the remains to Motech, a Taiwanese solar company.
See: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2009/comp20938.pdf Also: http://guntherportfolio.blogspot.com/2006/08/astropower-decline-of-solar.html
Awards
- IEEE William R. Cherry Award
- IEEE Fellow Award
- Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit
- P. Merriott W.H.O. Philanthropist of the year 2004
References
External links
- University of Delaware biography
- "Largest solar cell research effort launched", MSNBC.com, Nov. 4, 2005