Jeff Carpoff

Jeff and Paulette Carpoff launched DC Solar in Benecia to provide trailer-mounted, mobile solar generators for off-grid uses — like for large outdoor events, emergency situations, and more. But, as the Associated Press reports, "the company morphed into a Ponzi scheme by telling investors they can take advantage of federal tax credits by leasing the generators back to DC Solar, which would then provide them to other companies for their use." The couple was caught taking money from new investors to pay off original investors, taking in $2.5 billion in investment transactions over a seven-year period, beginning in 2011. Investors included Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which reportedly lost $340 million in the scheme. The Carpoffs face decades in federal prison, as well the forfeiture of all their assets, worth around $120 million — the largest criminal forfeiture in the history of of this federal district, according to U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott, whose office prosecuted the case. In addition to houses in Tahoe, Las Vegas, and the Caribbean, all purchased with cash, the Carpoffs owned a fleet of 150 collector cars, and more. The couple also bought an independent baseball team, the Martinez Clippers, and the city of Martinez says it is still owed $35,000 for a waterfront baseball stadium it constructed for the team two years ago. There are five other named co-conspirators also bein prosecuted, including DC Solar's general contractor and account. They are Robert Karmann, of Clayton; Ryan Guidry, of Pleasant Hill; Alan Hansen, of Vacaville; Ronald Roach, of Walnut Creek; and Joseph Bayless, of Martinez. Carpoff, 51, was sentenced in November 2021 to 30 years in prison — the maximum possible — and ordered to pay more than $790 million in restitution. His wife, Paulette, 48, was sentenced to 11 years and three months.