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Billion-Dollar Ponzi DC Solar’s CFO Gets Six-Year Prison Term

Robert Burnson
Tue, April 12, 2022, 


(Bloomberg) -- A defunct California-based solar company’s chief financial officer was ordered to prison for six years for his part in a $1 billion Ponzi scheme that attracted big-name investors, including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Robert A. Karmann started as DC Solar’s accountant and went on to become its controller and CFO before the company went bust in the wake of an FBI raid in 2018.

At his sentencing Tuesday in Sacramento federal court, U.S. District Judge John Mendez ordered Karmann to pay $624 million in restitution, according to court records.

Read More: Billion-Dollar Solar Power Ponzi Schemer Gets 30 Years’ Prison

DC Solar hooked investors on the idea that there was a fortune to be made in the market for its trailer-mounted solar generators. But in fact, demand for the generators was “virtually non-existent” and DC Solar was using money from new investors to pay off the old ones, according to U.S. Justice Department.

Karmann, 55, of Clayton, California, oversaw circular funds transfers and provided false financial information to investors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Sacramento.

DC Solar owner Jeff Carpoff was sentenced in November to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $790.6 million in restitution.