DC Solar was manufacturing mobile solar generator units (MSG), that were mounted on trailers. The company boasted that the units were both versatile and environmentally sustainable, and claimed that they were used to provide lighting for events and as emergency power to cellphone towers.
According to court records, DC Solar took $800 million from dozens of investors including Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s conglomerate, Sherwin-Williams, and Progressive Insurance, selling solar generators that didn’t exist.
The complex scheme involved creating fake financial statements, obtaining fake leases, and making it appear that solar generators existed in places that they did not, to conceal the fraud.
The Ponzi scheme operated until December 2018, when raids on the Carpoff’s residence in Martinez, California, and DC Solar’s headquarters in Benicia, California exposed the fraud. Following the raids, the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2019.
The Carpoff’s spent their ill-gotten gains lavishly. DC Solar was a big-money sponsor of the NASCAR Xfinity Series races and owned the Martinez Clippers, a now defunct minor league baseball team.
