US solar firm's lawyer sentenced to 11-year prison term for Ponzi scheme role

By David Thomas

March 10 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Sacramento, California sentenced lawyer Ari Lauer on Monday to more than 11 years in prison for his role in an estimated $912 million Ponzi scheme involving California solar power supply company DC Solar.

Lauer, 61, pleaded guilty in October to 23 criminal counts, including bank fraud and wire fraud affecting a financial institution, one week before his scheduled trial.

As outside counsel to DC Solar, Lauer played a key role in "the largest criminal fraud in the history of the Eastern District of California," U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said in a statement Monday.

"As the only attorney involved, he should have been the first person to recognize the fraud and stop it," Grant said. "Instead, he was the last person to accept responsibility, only doing so on the eve of trial."

Lauer's attorneys, Ed Swanson and Britt Evangelist of San Francisco-based Swanson & McNamara, said it had been "a difficult chapter in his life, but Mr. Lauer looks forward to returning to his family and continuing to be of service to his community."

DC Solar entered into $2.5 billion worth of transactions to sell mobile solar generators meant to provide emergency power to cellphone towers and lighting at sports events between 2011 and 2018. The firm's business attracted investors with associated federal tax credits, according to federal prosecutors.

But about half of the 17,000 generators did not exist, and the Benicia, California-based company used false financial statements and lease contracts to conceal the fraud, prosecutors said.

Lauer transferred investor funds from one account to another to hide the lack of money DC Solar was making off rentals to third parties, and created documents to hide those transfers, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors sought more than 24 years in prison for Lauer, while Lauer requested more than six years in prison. His attorneys argued that Lauer "did not try to escape responsibility for his crime by tampering with evidence and witnesses, lying to prosecutors and agents, or engaging in other cover-up efforts."

DC Solar's husband-and-wife owners, Jeff and Paulette Carpoff, pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2020. Jeff Carpoff was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $790 million in restitution. Paulette Carpoff was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors said four other people who were involved in the DC Solar scheme have received prison sentences ranging from three to eight years. An eighth person who was involved is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

The scheme caused Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to take a $377 million charge in 2019.