Overview
- U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd sentenced Ari J. Lauer, 61, on Monday to 11 years and five months in federal prison in what prosecutors call the Eastern District of California’s largest criminal fraud case.
- Lauer pleaded guilty in October 2025 to 23 felony counts, including conspiracy, bank fraud, and wire fraud affecting a financial institution.
- As outside counsel to DC Solar from 2009 to January 2019, Lauer advised on deals that prosecutors say masked a circular “re‑rent” payment system that used new investor money to pay earlier investors.
- Prosecutors say genuine third‑party demand never exceeded about 5% of reported lease revenue, with roughly $759.4 million taken from investors and about $912 million in total transactions tied to some 17,000 generators, about 9,000 of which did not exist.
- Principal figures were previously sentenced, including founder Jeff Carpoff to 30 years, Paulette Carpoff to 11 years and three months, and CFO Robert Karmann to six years, with defendant Ronald J. Roach set for sentencing on April 13.