The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into SunEdison’s disclosures to see if the solar company exaggerated its liquidity last year when it said it had more than $1 billion in cash, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
SEC officials are looking into how much cash the company had on hand in August, when it said it would form a $1 billion warehouse investment vehicle along with funds managed by Goldman Sachs Group (GSJ), the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company, whose shares had fallen about 95% over the past 12 months, is also working with advisers on a potential bankruptcy filing, the newspaper said.
The WSJ also said that the $1.4 billion in cash that SunEdison (SUNE) had reported as having as of its third quarter consisted largely of cash that it could not access, adding that the balance had dropped to less than $100 million by November.
SunEdison, struggling under a huge debt load, had also stopped paying some contractors and suppliers by the end of 2015 and was scrambling internally for ways to raise cash, the Journal said.
The SEC declined to comment, while SunEdison did not respond to requests for comment.
The troubled solar company earlier this month said it would delay the filing of its annual report after identifying “material weaknesses” in its financial reporting, primarily related to problems with a newly implemented IT system.
Solar stocks have been hit by the slide in oil prices, which has created anxiety among investors about demand for solar power.
As of Sept. 30, SunEdison had outstanding debt of $11.67 billion, the result of an aggressive acquisition strategy.
