By Imani Moise
(Reuters) – A federal agency found no wrongdoing concerning the stalled U.S. government loan to Eastman Kodak Co, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The inspector general for the U.S. International Development Finance Corp (DFC), which was administering the loan, told Democratic lawmakers he found no evidence that agency officials had any conflicts of interest in the plans, the report said.
It is unclear whether the agency will now move forward with the loan.
Representatives for Kodak and DFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Shares of the once iconic photography company surged in September when an earlier review by law firm Akin Gump, also cleared company executives of wrongdoing.
Kodak stock has swung wildly since July when it announced that it would receive a $765 million loan to help produce pharmaceutical ingredients for potential COVID-19 treatments, but the process ground to a halt after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about potential insider trading around the time of the announcement.
The day before the announcement which catapulted the stock to $30 a share from $2 over three sessions, there was heavy trading volume. Executives earned a windfall as the shares jumped more than 1,000% in the weeks after the news, partly due to retail investors on the Robinhood trading app piling into the shares.
However, reports of probes into the deal by federal agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission have sunk the stock back below $10 a share.
Kodak stock finished last week’s session at $7.53 a share.
(Reporting by Imani Moise; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
