A California fraudster is headed for the slammer after a green energy Ponzi scheme in which investors were swindled out of millions of dollars.
Ray Brewer was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison on Monday, according to the Department of Justice.
Brewer sold wealthy investors on a sham business in which he supposedly built anaerobic digesters at dairy farms with the capacity to use “microorganisms to break down biodegradable material and turn it into methane,” according to the New York Post.
Brewer was even featured in a 2013 Los Angeles Times profile of businesses involved in recycling manure.
Even then, a decade ago, legitimate dairy farmers expressed doubts about Brewer’s get-rich-quick scheme in the Times piece.
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“Talk about apprehensive,” Brewer said of one farmer in the profile.
He added: “That was a little bit of an understatement.”
The fraudster used a wide range of manufactured documents and forged lease agreements to make it look like his environmental business was legitimate, according to the Post.
🚨 #BreakingNews 🚨
A California con man has been sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison for duping investors out of close to $9Million in a Ponzi Scheme that claimed to be converting cow poop into clean energy
Ray Brewer (66) pleaded guilty earlier this year to running the scam pic.twitter.com/E4qU3y1nQU
— G-MAN (@GavinClimie) June 29, 2023
Does this fraudster deserve more than 7 years in prison?
Yes: 83% (20 Votes)
No: 17% (4 Votes)
Brewer even sent fake pictures of digesters purportedly under construction to his lenders.
The California man subsequently used funds obtained from newly tricked investors to pay off his suspicious creditors — a classic hallmark of a Ponzi scheme.
Other funds obtained from investors were used to purchase Dodge Ram trucks, two large plots of land, and 3,700 square foot customized home.
After Brewer’s victims obtained civil court judgements against him, he attempted to assume a new identity in Montana to evade repayment.
But the fraudster wasn’t quite done, even after law enforcement arrested him.
The green energy swindler falsely claimed to be a Navy veteran who saved other service members during a dangerous fire — a tall tale he subsequently admitted was a lie invented to curry special treatment.
The proceeds of Brewer’s fraud amounted to nearly $9 million, according to federal prosecutors.
Brewer plead guilty to 24 federal charges in February, according to CBS News.
