A federal district judge recently sentenced Jeff Carpoff, 50, to 30 years in prison relating a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
According to a Department of Justice news release:
“According to court documents, between 2011 and 2018, DC Solar manufactured mobile solar generator units (MSG), which were solar generators that were mounted on trailers and were promoted as able to provide emergency power to cellphone towers and lighting at sporting events. A significant incentive for investors were generous federal tax credits due to the solar nature of the MSGs.”
“The conspirators carried out an accounting and lease revenue fraud using Ponzi-like circular payments. Carpoff and others lied to investors about the market demand for DC Solar’s MSGs and its revenue from leasing to third parties, then covered up these lies with techniques including false financial statements and fake lease contracts. Their fraud concealed a circular payment structure where Carpoff and others were simply using new investor money to pay older investors the supposed lease revenue that investors were expecting. As DC Solar lost vast sums of money with this fraudulent model, Carpoff and other conspirators stopped building the MSGs altogether, selling thousands of MSGs that did not even exist to investors. To carry out this part of the fraud, Carpoff and others made it appear that MSGs existed in locations that they did not, swapped vehicle identification number (VIN) stickers on MSGs that had been built earlier, and attempted to deceive certain investors during equipment inspections. In reality, at least half of the approximately 17,000 mobile solar generators claimed to have been manufactured by DC Solar did not exist.”
Fishman Haygood’s Investment Fraud Division has experience bringing claims on behalf of investors who were the victims of Ponzi schemes, including against Allen Stanford.
If you believe you have suffered losses an investment scheme, please contact us to discuss your possible claim.
