How This Man Pulled Off a Billion-Dollar Solar Scam 

He literally had years with billions in funds to hire pretty much any single university student intern who could've made such a mind-blowingly simple product. It is literally many orders of magnitudes simpler than the average capstone project.

Who the fuck needs 149 vehicles? Pure and untempered greed.

Elizabeth Holmes: “Impressive”.

I can't get past the part where they had a legitimate start via movie industry and couldn't make it work after that.

"They paid 150k to save 45k in taxes for 13k worth of equipment?" My neighbor got quoted over $80k by a solar installer for a system but she shouldn't worry because she can get 30% back from the government. I estimate there wasn't more than $20K of equipment in her install. But their get out of jail card is the "install labor cost".

He could have just hired real engineers to build the product for real, but instead chose to go to prison

people worried about their static solar panel installations getting stolen? what? in what society do you have to fear your very house getting dismantled by robbers?

So Berkshire lost 344mill and made 377mill on tax credit,.

It wasn't a ground breaking invention, but it seemed to get enough interest and attention that this guy could have become a millionaire from running a legitimate business. Greed makes them think it will be a good idea to scam their way into becoming a billionaire instead, and for some reason they think no one will notice.

Let's just ignore the fact bro was able to sell drugs as a causal second job

9:38 "Imagine using Google to build something that would net your company hundreds of millions of dollars" Software Engineers: "Umm..."

Let me explain the scam as I understood it: - companies pay an intial 30% on a high priced mobile solar generator, but never see the generator. - companies immediately get the 30% back from tax credits - DC Solar promises to lease their newly purchased generator to other companies to repay the missing 70% at no cost for the initial buyer. And then once all is paid to transfer the lease revenues to the initial buyer. - DC solar prices the generators at 10x real cost: so a 150K purchase gets 45K tax credit and 30K profit for DC solar. All 45K is actually paid by tax payers money. So the companies are not scammed: the tax payers are. This explains why there is so little due diligence.

Seeing countless outrageous scam videos like that over the years with rich, influential people STILL falling for them can only lead to one conclusion : having wealth does not mean said wealth was aquired using ones brains.

When I look at it I see 8 solar panels, a lithium iron battery, an invertor and a trailer, hardly worth much more then $10,000 to $15,000. I can't understand how intelligent people could look at it and think it is worth over $150,000. If I need portable power I want the traditional generator because if it is cloudy this solar generator is not going to work very well.

Can you do one on that Vietnamese woman who scammed like $112 billion dollars and was sent to death?

I'm not sure why the video skipped over this key detail....there are a lot of comments about how this could have been a legitimate business: it could not have been. 10 solar panels and some batteries is not nearly enough to power even a small load. 10 Years ago this would mean each trailer is generating 20kWh at BEST on a sunny day in the summer (I'm being generous, reality is closer to 5kWh). The most basic Tesla model 3 has a 60kWh battery -- you would need 3-12 trailers at $150k EACH TO CHARGE 1 CAR. A 12K light on a movie set uses 12kw of power. Each trailer could collect sunlight all day and power ONE SINGLE 12K light for between 30 and 90 minutes, at best.

One has to screw up monumentally to end up in a Cold Fusion episode

It's funny how "financial desperation pushed him to sell drugs again" are the words used when NOT describing a minority!! 😞 HE WAS A DRUG DEALER!!!

I've been on the inventor grind legitimately for years now. I have too much respect for myself and engineering to "fake it 'til I make it."

As an investor, I’d be very careful to invest in a ponzi scheme. They’re often fraudulent.

The funny thing is it's actually a pretty good idea and was at the right time. If he had actually any engineering/scaling knowledge he could have pulled it off for real.

So fun fact: I was working and going though training as an alarm dispatcher for the company that DC Solar used to secure their warehouse, at the time that the feds raided him in dec 2018. I also lived nearby so familiar with the name and location. A girl next to me also in training shouts out "I have a video alarm it's a bunch of guys in what looks like a car museum!" I said what's the account name and address? She said DC Solar. She showed me the motion activated video alarm, it was all of the feds busting in to seize his assets! part of his massive car collection he was storing in the warehouse. I never got to hear the call, but how funny it must have been to hear his reaction when she called down the contact list and asked him if there was supposed to be a bunch of people running around his warehouse that night LOL

What a stupid idea. People are afraid of their panels getting stolen. So they put them on a trailer, instead of on a permanent installation.... WTF lololol. A trailer is FAR easier to steal, I have installed solar, you cannot just snip it and walk off with it. Not unnoticed.

Huge companies and banks smell scams miles from a distance , so to me they knew the guy would get caught one day but to them a few hundred millions, tax payer´s and investors money pouring back in with a profit plus the benefit of free ads to them as victims...is all they want. Why didn´t he make his company real with that amount of money?

Given Carpoff and Madoff, it’s probably best to avoid investing with anyone who has “off” in their name.

Cold fusion: imagine using google to build something that would net your company millions of dollar Software engineers: *gulp* that’s craaaaaaaazy…

People don't understand how little energy is produced by solar panels. Example: the $150K trailers shown had 10ea, 300w panels = 3000watts. An avg of 4 hours/day (varies by latitude, but 4 is middle range) = 12,000 watt-hours/day, or 12 kilowatt-hours of energy produced per day. This is 360 kWh per month. The avg household in the USA consumes 900 kWh/month. And this was expected to power events and charge EVs? An EV, with a 60kWh battery pack, would use 5 days of the trailer's power production to charge. The lack of knowledge on the subject has made solar a scammer's dream.

im gonna try it

Sound quality was just fine, awesome video

Finally some NASCAR related in some way content on Cold Fusion

Babe wake up cold fusion dropped

Cold fusion uploading a video that isn’t about AI 🤯

The craziest thing to me is still: Robbing money gives you a higher sentence than taking a life.

They paid 150k to save 45k in taxes for 13k worth of equipment? What? And why isn't that allowed if the companies did pay 150k?

Let this case be a demonstration that money does not necessarily change a person. It merely amplifies the person they really are.

Nice work. I’ve been on the AM24YS$ train for a while, never sold as they are always building.

the only way to not be caught is to scam poor people or be a politician

thanks for doing this... puts me in mind of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos

I bought a little AM24YS$ to bridge it to Base but the Eth fees are ridiculous. Without layer 2s, eth is useless.

Its always a good day when cold fusion releases another banger documentary

This guy won't be able to get out of prison until he is almost 80 years old (around 2047), by then he'll be 77.

This story makes little sense to me. Could no one involved count? Or rather that no one wanted to because they were hoping to gain money? The solar generator had about 10 panels each. If I'm generous then one could assume a peak solar power of 4 kW. A typical generator provides anything between 2 and 15 kW. I have a hard time thinking that they could be a direct replacement for anything but the smallest of generators. What were these alleged customers using them for? With all the money these companies wanted to invest they couldn't spend 15k to 20k to actually do a proper due diligence?

The barrage of b-roll inadvertently made this a comedy

This is why Kings and Queens had heads rolling very quick back in the days.

I'm willing to be that the law firm gave him all the advice on the scam...I doubt he came up with such an intricate scheme on his own

Haven't heard of this yet, what a story 🤔Keep up the great work, always interesting topics, Gogo 🙌

Another example of a guy who could have just gotten away with it if he had just grabbed even a small % of his money and went to a country that would just not care.

How is "mounting solar panels and batteries on a trailer" an invention? This is something people did 20+ years ago with their camping trailers so they have off-grid power.

Audio was good for me! Thanks for posting!❤

Taking advantage of an innocent gecko who wanted to help you save on car insurance; despicable 😡🦎

Adding thousands AM24YS$ more in March. Hope it’s not over $1 by then

Can't help but wonder if these schemes would work better if the guy at the top DIDN'T go for the lavish lifestyle

Dope Content Cold Fusion 🤘😎💯💧

I know you touched on Jeff's love for NASCAR, but it's worth mentioning his scam also nearly killed an up-and-coming driver's career and was directly responsible for the shutdown and sale of one of NASCAR's most prominent teams (Chip Ganassi Racing). The driver was able to rebuild his career, but CGR had to be sold and the owner is still, to this day, suffering from the losses incurred from losing DC Solar as one of their primary sponsors.

Excellent video. These two are a piece of work! Congratulations on moving to a new house. The sound quality was great.

The real moral of the story is: Screw over small people all you want and little will happen, mess with the rich and you do hard time.

Billions means 'it cannot be a ponzi scheme. So many people cannot be fooled"

Missed your videos. Glad to see you back

Wow never heard of this in the news. Good video👍

Let's be generous, and estimate that each of those Solar Panels produce 250Watts. You've got ten of those, so the maximum output you could achieve would be 2.5KW. Sure, that could power something small, but this is the sort of tiny unit that you see providing power to a motorhome. A 60KWH EV battery would take 24 hours to charge. If you're talking about theft, what's easier to steal than something made for easy towing! It boggles the mind to think that anyone with the slightest technical knowledge would see that this is a pretty limited market. Who wants a massive trailer, just to power a motorhome? It's just not that energy dense. Still, people get carried away, and lose their minds when bubbles like this erupt.

Breakfast and cold fusion Saturday

I love your video so much, man

another very interesting video, thanks mate, i always look forward to your drops

This is why I have zero faith on government tax credit programs. Too often they become an incentive for fraud.

Got in at AM24YS$ at $1 but will be holding it till $50. Even at that price market cap is reasonable for its tech.

Dagogo love your work mate.

“You were selling air” 😂😂😭

Very interesting...🤔

I\'m betting AM24YS$ will perform well, it havent had a cycle yet and they have a strong community on both, and AM24YS$ update will make rollup fees even lower. Just my 2 cents. Great video goodvibes

The onslaught of never-ending fraud over the past gazillion decades has - for all eternity -completely and utterly obliterated the concept of a "sophisticated investor". People need to shut up and stop using that term...there's no such thing.

My first response was "they should have used that money to hire competent people!", but their entire business model is so stupid and so fraudulent, that would have never worked. They were a scam company through and through. They needed to hire idiots, not people who would ask questions.

It's interesting how similar this is to Theranos. It starts with an idea thats good on paper, but doesnt work (wll) in practice. They start "faking till you make it" only for them to never reach the "making" part. Even the paranoia and surveillance sounds similar to what happened with Theranos internally!

Man I can’t wait for your new track that you featured at the end of the video. I need it. Great video as always man! 🤙🏼

Sound is ok, clean, no echo.

Sounded good dude, love your work. Keep it up.

Oh the Irony... he could've have actually made a system that worked with his funding.

Anyone with a small amount of experience with solar could look at his solar generator and know it wasn't going to work. It's just another full self driving or Hyperloop scam.

I got a solar panel sales ad whilst watching this 😂

Whenever I try to sell air, nobody wants to buy it. What am I doing wrong?

Great piece, sound was fine didn't even notice

A mobile solar generator is the dumbest "invention" possible. I don't feel bad for anyone who lost money "investing" in solar panels on a trailer.

10 years ago I worked at Lowe’s and they had some small business that was selling home size windmills and it was all 100% scam our stores pulled those things down so fast they sold them to 10 different people and most buying 2-3 at 10k a pop. It was only in Wa state and Lowe’s did everything they could to wash their hands of that co.

Sounded great buddy! Wasn’t aware of any echoing. 😊. Awesome vid as usual. Long time subscriber lol 😆

Depends on your finances . 1000$ in AM24YS$ is 4000 AM24YS$ if it goes to 50% of ath in 2024 thats a 600% gain. If it goes equal to ath . Its a 1200% gain.

Reminds me of Tesla superchargers hooked up to diesel generators.

Time and time again, investors showed they know nothing about due diligence.

Great episode. Sound was fine. Hope the move went well Diago

Incredible story once again.

When i hear "genius idea" and "napkin", i know its a scam. Its always the same bs story.

no need to soundproof your room Dagogo - if you want to treat your audio you can anyway using a VST effect to remove any reverb - personally I didn't notice much difference, I did hear a slight change in audio at one point but I thought you'd maybe just changed the microphone or in a different location when recording, apart from that all good. :) thanks so much for these videos, I love them.

You did a great job with the sound! Echo wasn't noticable.

4mins since the video has been uploaded and people are talking about how a 23:03 long video is good wow

Crazy how this guy had so much time to use that money build an actual working mobile solar generator

sound is good ;-). thank you for the fun!

Episode sound was good & show was very interesting, I saw a few trucks back in that era but never any of the actual trailers looking at the size of the panels to the potential electricity produced does not look like it would’ve produced a lot of power needed to charge electric vehicles or run large movie sets. Would be interesting to know what they claimed its power output was vs actually tested true output. Thank you for all the work and investigating to do it with these episodes together very fascinating and insightful!🙏😊👍

One of the pitfalls of being at the top is the onslaught of those trying to get what you have.

His name rhymes with Madoff

The video was great. No significant audio issues👍🏾

I can hear his wife telling employees to stay in their lane...in a firm tone 😂

bernie madoff, jeff carpoff. The names just seem similar