An electric utility contractor that turned Puerto Rico’s lights back on after Hurricane Maria now is ensnared in contract-steering probes as federal authorities scrutinize billions of dollars in public reconstruction spending across the U.S. territory, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General are looking into the work of a Mammoth Energy Services Inc. subsidiary in Puerto Rico, examining how the Oklahoma City-based company came to dominate the power-restoration efforts there since 2017. Inspector General investigators separately have probed the company’s rates for linemen, equipment and security under $1.85 billion in contracts with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the bankrupt public monopoly known as PREPA. Cobra was hired to repair Hurricane Maria’s damage to the power grid and gradually became PREPA’s primary general contractor.
