News

AstroPower Reaches Agreement In Dispute With Department of Justice

May 09, 2001 by Jeff Shepard

AstroPower Inc. (Newark, DE) announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to settle litigation with the Department of Justice. Under the terms of the contemplated settlement, Astropower will pay $3.5 million to the federal government and the Department of Energy will consider the acquisition of the company's silicon-film product for government use.

“We believe that it is in the best interests of the company and all of its shareholders to settle this dispute," said President and CEO Allen Barnett. “Although we continue to disagree with the government's litigation, we also recognize the significant costs of continuing with the litigation, both in terms of legal fees to defend the litigation and in the distraction of a number of key members of our management team."

A settlement would be reflected as a one-time charge in AstroPower's financial results for the first quarter of this year.