State regulators are pursuing disciplinary action against Utah-based Legend Solar, saying the company apparently tried to mislead them.
The Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing has recommended that the St. George-area company lose its license to operate as a contractor in Utah. According to a complaint issued earlier this week, division investigators concluded that Legend Solar had apparently submitted misleading information last November, when it applied to renew that license.
The complaint comes as Legend Solar, once a top company in Utah’s burgeoning solar industry, has been struggling in recent months with what it calls an “extreme cashflow problem” stemming from a downturn in sales. Scores of customers are still waiting on unfinished residential solar arrays as the company copes with several rounds of layoffs.
Those financial woes recently led Dixie State University to rescind a deal naming its sports stadium after Legend Solar, after the firm was unable to follow through on a promised $10 million donation to the St. George school.
The state regulators’ action is filed against the company under its various operating names, including Legend Solar, Legend Energy and Legend Ventures. It gives company leaders 30 days to respond.
In documents filed Tuesday, state regulators contend that Legend Solar indicated on its Nov. 2017 renewal application that it did not have any judgements or tax liens filed against it, but investigators found it had at least 15 outstanding tax liens.
They also found that the New York state Supreme Court had order Legend to pay TVT Capital, a lending firm, more than $300,000 in Dec. 2017, documents said.
Regulators further allege that Legend Solar reported that it had not been subject to disciplinary action in any other state, when in fact the State Contractors Board of Nevada had revoked the company’s license in that state in Aug. 2017.
Those inaccurate statements, regulators said in their March 20 filing, amount to “unlawful conduct by obtaining a license by misrepresentation.”
A spokeswoman for the division would not provide additional comment.
Shane Perkins, one of the co-owners of Legend Solar, said the allegations were the result of a mistake made by the company’s electrician, who he said “checked the wrong box.”
Perkins said he was confident that the matter would be cleared up shortly.
