Originally published at: "Gluttonous accumulation of wealth": Wife of solar Ponzi schemer sentenced to 11 years | Boing Boing
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Glad to hear this. The scheme itself was pretty boring and not very clever at all: Take investor money that was supposed to go to their apparently legit business, and spend it on themselves like crazy, without much rhyme or reason, it seems. This power couple deserves every minute behind bars they get.
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I assume these scumbags ended up in prison mainly because they bilked wealthy white people (an amateur mistake for an American grifter). Still, it’s a satisfying outcome.
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After the trial, Carpoff’s defense attorney said, “This is a dark day for the Carpoff family, but it’s a day she’s had coming for quite a while. She will continue to unravel the damage this scheme has wrought on people throughout the country.”
Is this where someone needs to remind the attorney they are in fact the counsel for the defence?
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I suspect they were referring to the fact that it has been coming to her for well over two years. From the linked article…
Paulette Carpoff pleaded guilty in January 2020 to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and money laundering and could have faced up to 15 years in prison.
But her defense attorney, William Portanova, said she has cooperated with federal investigators in ongoing probes, and officials said she had been working with investigators as recently as Monday. “This is a dark day for the Carpoff family, but it’s a day she’s had coming for quite a while,” Portanova said after court. “She will continue to unravel the damage this scheme has wrought on people throughout the country.”
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I think I understand the intent of the statement, but woof! The wording! (Unless they’re hoping to appeal the sentence based on defense incompetence, which won’t work if she pleaded guilty…)
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Indeed. The only reason this scheme worked at all was because of the Federal tax credits involved due to the solar nature of their business. The fact that they kept it going for almost 10 years is remarkable and illustrates just how lax law enforcement of so-called “white collar” crimes really is in America. I’m always amazed at how these criminals operate in plain view with impunity while cops violently bust pot dealers and jaywalkers instead.
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.
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Make no (State Tax-wise) small plans? Or MSG and no (emergency power) takeaway in a decade?
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