SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A Lafayette man was sentenced to over 11 years in federal prison this month for his role in what the U.S. Department of Justice said is the biggest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California.
On March 9, U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd sentenced attorney Ari Lauer, 61, to 11 years and five months in prison for "giving legitimacy" as outside counsel to the Benicia-based company DC Solar, which defrauded investors.
Lauer pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, 12 counts of bank fraud, and 10 counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.
Six other people caught up in the scheme have been given federal prison terms and one other is awaiting sentencing.
The crimes at DC Solar were sophisticated and complex, but involved mobile solar generators (MSGs) that were mounted on trailers. DC Solar claimed they could provide emergency power to cellphone towers and lighting at sporting and other large events. DC Solar reeled in investors by pointing out that there were generous federal tax credits to be had due to the green energy the MSGs offered.
According to the DOJ, investors would buy the MSGs without ever taking possession of them, paying a percentage of the sale price and financing the balance with DC Solar. Then the investors leased the MSGs back to the company, which in turn purported to lease them to third parties. A portion of the lease revenue was supposed to go to the investors and a portion would be used to pay the investors' debts to DC Solar.
Enter the Ponzi scheme.
According to the DOJ, when the third-party leases generated little income, the company paid early investors with funds contributed by later investors. Generators were sold that didn't even exist -- at least half DC Solar claimed to have manufactured -- making it look like MSGs existed in locations that they did not.
False financial statements and false lease contracts were created to keep the con going. Prosecutors determined that approximately 94 percent of the revenue claimed by DC Solar actually came from transfers of new investor cash.
Martinez residents Jeff Carpoff, 55, his wife Paulette Carpoff, 52, and their co-conspirators solicited investors to invest in the generators in large multimillion-dollar transactions using a variety of fraudulent techniques.
According to prosecutors, between March 2011 and Dec. 18, 2018, investors invested approximately $759.4 million, and several financial institutions and other investors transferred $152.7 million to DC Solar as part of related transactions for the purchase and lease of generators. In total, DC Solar closed transactions with investors that contributed more than $912 million to purchase generators. Those transactions were purported to involve approximately 17,000 generators, at approximately $2.5 billion in value.
On Dec. 19, 2025, the California State bar put Lauer on "involuntary inactive status" due to his conviction in this case.
In 2021, Jeff Carpoff was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $790.6 million in restitution. The following year, Paulette Carpoff was given 11 years and three months in prison.