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DC Solar
Company typePrivate company
IndustryRenewable energy, Photovoltaics industry
Founded2008 (2008)
FounderJeffrey Carpoff
Defunct2018 (2018)
FateSeized by the FBI; Chapter 11 bankruptcy liquidation
Headquarters
Benicia, California, United States
ProductsPhotovoltaic modules, Photovoltaic systems
Websitehttp://www.dcsolarsolutionsmfg.com (Wayback Machine)

DC Solar Solutions Inc., trading as DC Solar, was a Benicia, California solar power supplier company whose owners lived lavishly on ill-gotten gains in Martinez. The company was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2018 after it turned out to be a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.[1][2][3][4]

Company history

[edit]

The company was founded in 2008 in Concord, California, by Jeffrey Carpoff, an auto mechanic.[5][6] Berkshire Hathaway invested $340 million in the company.[7] The company supplied solar panels, named Solar Eclipse,[8] to various higher education facilities (using a subsidiary, DC Solar Freedom, for education-related partnerships) such as California State University and Long Beach City College[9][10][11] and various NASCAR tracks;[12][13] it also sponsored Chip Ganassi Racing and several races in the NASCAR calendar in 2018.[14] Prior to the 2018 FBI raid, the Internal Revenue Service had investigated the company in 2016 for financial irregularities regarding the company's dealings.[8]

The company was raided by the FBI in December 2018 amidst allegations of Ponzi scheme associated with the company,[15] and the company later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[5] According to the FBI and a later SEC investigation, it was alleged that Carpoff and his wife, Paulette, promised 17 investors between 2011 and 2018 federal solar tax credits, lease payments, and profits, but instead spent lavishly on properties, jets, jewelry, a semi-professional baseball team (Martinez Clippers), sponsoring trips and vacations and even work wardrobes for family members, and sponsorship deals for Chip Ganassi Racing and various NASCAR races. Meanwhile, the majority of the lease revenue was being paid with money from new investors, and as many as three-quarters of the mobile solar generators the company claimed to have built (17,000 units)[8] never existed. GPS trackers purportedly attached to deployed units to verify their locations were buried instead to make it appear that the units were operational and where they were supposed to be.[3][16][17]

In 2019, federal authorities auctioned a car collection they amassed of more than 150 classic and contemporary cars, including Kyle Larson's car that won the 2018 Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 race.[18][19] The raid prompted Chip Ganassi Racing to shut down their NASCAR Xfinity Series team[20] and a lawsuit between International Speedway Corporation and SunTrust Bank regarding the fate of the generators.[21] The Carpoffs pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in January 2020, forfeiting $120 million in assets. Four other business partners pled guilty to crimes.[22][23]

On November 9, 2021, Jeffery Carpoff was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.[24][25] In addition to Jeffery his wife Paulette Carpoff and five other defendants also pleaded guilty to similar charges in relation to the scheme.[26]

Sponsorship

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Brennan Poole's DC Solar-sponsored Chevrolet Camaro at Richmond Raceway in 2016, their initial outing in the sport.

DC Solar began their NASCAR sponsorship at the end of 2014, when they got into contact with then ARCA Racing Series driver Brennan Poole. After only a few meetings they decided on going to the NASCAR Xfinity Series operation of HScott Motorsports in the No. 42 car in a partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing, moving Poole up from ARCA after 4 seasons of struggling to find rides at Venturini Motorsports due to a lack of funding, and taking the spot vacated by Dylan Kwasniewski at the end of 2014 after Rockstar Energy didn't renew their partnership for the 2015 season. In 2016 they expanded upon their partnership adding Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson in select NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. In 2017, the company once again switched to expanding upon their sponsorship efforts in the sport, this time specifically with Chip Ganassi Racing's team, sponsoring Poole as well as Larson in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.[27]

In June of 2018, 6 months before the company's raid, Poole filed a lawsuit against the company, Chip Ganassi Racing, and agency Spire Sports + Entertainment for breach of contract, alleging that both conspired to take away DC Solar's sponsorship from his Xfinity Series' ride and move it to the No. 42 CGR Cup Series team (then driven by Larson) and that Spire's involvement representing both driver and team constituted a conflict of interest.[28][29] Spire and Chip Ganassi Racing initially cited performance reasons (lack of race victories) as the reason for termination of Poole's sponsorship;[30][31] The suit was later settled out of court immediately following the raid of the company.

They also sponsored Xfinity Series races in 2018 at Phoenix Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway (both now since named United Rentals 200 and Alsco Uniforms 302), the NASCAR Truck Series race at Las Vegas in 2016 (last known as Bucked Up 200, which has since been discontinued; the race distance was advertised as a 350-kilometer (217-mile) race the year DC Solar sponsored the event), as well as the naming rights to the FanGrounds (an area where fans could visit the pit garages) at Richmond Raceway.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Cahill, Nick (October 23, 2019). "Two Plead Guilty in Solar Energy Ponzi Scheme". Courthouse News Service. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  2. ^ Roselund, Christian (May 28, 2019). "DC Solar gets liquidated". pv magazine USA. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Stanton, Sam (October 22, 2019). "Two enter guilty pleas in what federal prosecutors call $2.5 billion Ponzi scheme". The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  4. ^ "California man gets 30 years in prison for $1B Ponzi scheme". news.yahoo.com.
  5. ^ a b Weilenman, Donna Beth (February 6, 2019). "DC Solar files Chapter 11 bankruptcy, court papers show multi-million dollar debt". Martinez News-Gazette. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  6. ^ Eckhouse, Brian; Chiglinsky, Katherine; Chediak, Mark (June 4, 2019). "DC Solar scammers serve as cautionary tale for solar investors". Renewable Energy World. Archived from the original on June 16, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  7. ^ Cao, Sissi (May 10, 2019). "Warren Buffett Was Scammed Out of $340 Million in a Ponzi Scheme". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. ^ a b c Sabar, Ariel (May 8, 2023). "The Billion-Dollar Ponzi Scheme That Hooked Warren Buffett and the U.S. Treasury". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  9. ^ "CSUN Partners with DC Solar Freedom to Bring Off-Grid Solar Power to Campus at No Cost". CSUN Today. California State University. April 21, 2016. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  10. ^ "DC Solar Freedom Brings Off-Grid Solar Power to LBCC". Long Beach City College. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  11. ^ Whitman, Elizabeth (February 27, 2019). "The Bizarre Link Between Phoenix and an Imploding California Solar Company". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  12. ^ Stern, Adam (April 16, 2018). "DC Solar expanding to more SMI, ISC tracks". Sports Business Journal. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  13. ^ "Solar operation accused in $800M fraud scheme lists Kansas Speedway as a creditor". Kansas City Business Journal. American City Business Journals. June 10, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  14. ^ JohnWallStreet (January 27, 2020). "NASCAR, Chip Ganassi Racing Duped In Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme, Affiliation Unlikely to Leave Stain on Sport". Sports Illustrated.
  15. ^ Barnard, Cornell (December 22, 2018). "FBI raids East Bay solar company Headquarters, CEO's home searched". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  16. ^ Weilenman, Donna Beth (February 27, 2019). "FBI agent suggests DC Solar operations 'Ponzi Scheme'". Martinez News-Gazette. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  17. ^ "Owners of solar company that caused loss for Buffett plead guilty over Ponzi scheme". Reuters. January 24, 2020. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  18. ^ Gastelu, Gary (October 17, 2019). "Massive car collection seized from owners of bankrupt DC Solar up for auction". Fox News. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  19. ^ McFadin, Daniel (September 25, 2019). "DC Solar bankruptcy auction includes Kyle Larson's Daytona-winning car". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  20. ^ Utter, Jim (January 5, 2019). "Chip Ganassi Racing shuts down Xfinity program for 2019". Motorsport.com. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  21. ^ Fernandez, Frank (September 8, 2019). "ISC, SunTrust sue each other over generators tied to company FBI accused of 'Ponzi Scheme'". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Archived from the original on February 11, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  22. ^ "California couple pleads guilty to plotting $1B Ponzi scheme". AP NEWS. January 24, 2020. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2020. Prosecutors alleged that the company engaged in $2.5 billion in investment transactions between 2011 and 2018, costing investors $1 billion. Among the investors was Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which lost some $340 million.
  23. ^ a b McFadin, Daniel (January 24, 2020). "DC Solar founders to plead guilty to charges related to $1 billion Ponzi scheme". NBC Sports. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  24. ^ "DC Solar Owner Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme". United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. United States Department of Justice. November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  25. ^ "DC Solar Owner Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme Biggest Criminal Fraud Scheme in the History of the Eastern District of California". November 9, 2021.
  26. ^ "Feds: Billion-Dollar Bay Area Ponzi Scheme Funded Jet-Setting Lifestyle, Ownership Of Minor League Baseball Team". November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  27. ^ DeGroot, Nick (November 10, 2018). "Ross Chastain to run full Xfinity schedule with Ganassi in 2019". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  28. ^ Vincent, Amanda (June 29, 2018). "Brennan Poole sues Chip Ganassi Racing NASCAR team". The Drive. Time Inc. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  29. ^ "Brennan Poole files lawsuit against Chip Ganassi Racing". NBC Sports. June 28, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  30. ^ Vincent, Amanda (July 3, 2018). "Chip Ganassi Racing Has Answer for Brennan Pooles Accusations". The Drive. Time Inc. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  31. ^ "Brennan Poole sues Chip Ganassi Racing, Spire Sports Agency over sponsorship conspiracy". Autoweek. June 28, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
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