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

The co-owner of a California-based solar company was sentenced to 30 years in prison for running a $1 billion Ponzi scheme that attracted big-name investors, among them Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Jeff Carpoff’s DC Solar built mobile solar generators for sporting events and music festivals. It burnished its image with investors by wildly inflating the number of generators it had produced.

Money poured in through complex deals known as tax-equity funds. Buffett’s company invested $340 million. Other backers included Progressive Corp., East West Bancorp Inc., Valley National Bancorp and Sherwin-Williams Co.

Jeff Carpoff in 2016.

Photographer: Robert Laberge/NASCAR/Getty Images

But DC Solar manufactured ...