i9 Follow-Up: Some people owed money Moxie Solar not notified about receivership in Wisconsin

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Rich Engel assumed there was no way he would get a refund for around $28,000 after he spent it on solar panels, which an Iowa-based company called Moxie Solar never installed.

Engel is one of the thousands of people, who lost money after Moxie Solar became defunct at the end of 2022. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office said the company faced more than 100 complaints since 2020. The company changed its name to New Moxie Solar and filed for a receivership in Wisconsin two months after it registered to operate a business in the state.

Engel said he found out about the court procedure after our KCRG-TV9 i9 Investigative Team published a story about the court filing last week. He said he was consistently frustrated after emails show he spent more than 10 months working with the company for an installation date and complaints to Attorney General’s Offices in two different states.

“I think they were just were like gaslighting me,” Engel said.

He said he bought the solar panels using money from his Mom’s death as a tribute to her passion for improving the environment and love of nature.

Steven Nelson, who is an attorney based in Moline, said he also had a client stiffed from the defunct solar company and wasn’t notified about the procedure either. He said the money will get dispersed in a pro rates format, which means a process where the money will be distributed in equal portions.

Rebecca DeMarb, who is the appointed receiver for the case, told TV9 they sent out notifications to nearly 5,000 possible creditors based on information from Moxie Solar’s financial books. She said it was also possible people weren’t notified if they moved to a different address.

The deadline to apply for a claim is April 24th.

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