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The Couple Who Scammed Berkshire Hathaway For Millions
Posted on 6/5/19 at 7:44 pm
Posted on 6/5/19 at 7:44 pm
quote:
Jeff Carpoff had a lot to celebrate as friends and business associates gathered at his company’s Christmas party last year.
The one-time auto mechanic and his wife, Paulette, had started a solar company about a decade earlier that was doing remarkably well -- so well that it could count Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. as an investor. Their business, making mobile solar generators, had afforded them lavish goodies. They owned more than 90 cars, from classic Fords and Plymouths to Bentleys, at least 20 properties, and even a professional baseball team in Martinez, just northeast of San Francisco.
quote:
And now as the year came to a close, here was Pitbull, the rapper from Miami, headlining their Christmas party at a swanky Fairmont hotel, according to people familiar with the matter. The event, tweeted Kyle Larson, a race-car driver once sponsored by a Carpoff company, was the “best holiday party I’ve ever been to by far!!”
A few days later, when FBI agents showed up at their front door, the Carpoffs’ extravagant life came crashing down. It was an edifice largely built on an alleged fraud — a Ponzi-type scheme, in essence, say federal authorities — that was as elaborate and brazen as their spending habits.
Their company, DC Solar, is now out of business, most of its 100-strong workforce unemployed. Their home in Martinez, a sprawling 4,100-square-foot affair, is in foreclosure, the swimming pool littered with leaves. When the agents came knocking on that day in late December, they took many of the luxury cars. They also seized a pile of cash -- $1.8 million in all -- that had been secreted away in one of the couple’s offices.
LINK
For some reason I have a fascination with stories like this. People who convince big time investors to invest in them and end up being scammers.
It will eventually catch up with them. There is no way to sustain these scams, yet I guess everyone thinks "I will not get caught".
Posted on 6/5/19 at 7:47 pm to OweO
quote:
Their home in Martinez, a sprawling 4,100-square-foot affair
Writer must be a poor. I wouldn’t use sprawling until 10,000 sq/ft.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 7:48 pm to OweO
I cant wait till American Greed does this one
Posted on 6/5/19 at 7:55 pm to OweO
There is a rough quote that applies here.
“The SEC is able to investigate sophisticated accounting techniques and determine when there are problems.
They have more problems dealing with statements created out of whole cloth.” - Bernie Madoff
“The SEC is able to investigate sophisticated accounting techniques and determine when there are problems.
They have more problems dealing with statements created out of whole cloth.” - Bernie Madoff
Posted on 6/5/19 at 7:55 pm to OweO
One of these days these scammers will be smart enough to sock away the cash someplace other than their homes or bank safety deposit boxes. Someplace like a cave or just like the old days, buried in mason jars. That way the Feds leave empty handed and they get to live it up once they do get out of the slammer.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:03 pm to Sidicous
I mean if I’m a scammer making millions you have to know your days are numbered. Hide as much cash as possible and come up with a plan to completely disappear. If they find you then once you get out of a sweet arse prison you have money to come home to
This post was edited on 6/5/19 at 8:57 pm
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:15 pm to Sidicous
quote:
One of these days these scammers will be smart enough to sock away the cash someplace other than their homes or bank safety deposit boxes. Someplace like a cave or just like the old days, buried in mason jars. That way the Feds leave empty handed and they get to live it up once they do get out of the slammer.
That's what gets me.
If you keep your cash anywhere that is connected to you they will find it when they arrest you.
I wouldn't hide all of it in one location. I'd hide it in three different areas where there is no way anyone would think to go look for it. I'd have to really think about how i'd do it, but i'd make sure no one would find the cash.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:19 pm to Uncle Stu
On today’s episode of American Greed.....
Parties, lavish lifestyles, even an appearance by Mr. Worldwide himself. But is it all too good to be true? Turns out they were just full of empty lies. Just like the solar energy industry they tried to corner.
Parties, lavish lifestyles, even an appearance by Mr. Worldwide himself. But is it all too good to be true? Turns out they were just full of empty lies. Just like the solar energy industry they tried to corner.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:22 pm to Howyouluhdat
I believe these people have millions stashed someplace. 1.8 million is nothing stashed away from reading their expenditures.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:23 pm to OweO
I would be socking it away overseas.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:24 pm to OweO
You a millionaire ponzi scheme manager that knows their days are numbered? You get you a Yeti Tundra 85 to bury your cash!
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:25 pm to OweO
quote:
They owned more than 90 cars, from classic Fords and Plymouths to Bentleys, at least 20 properties, and even a professional baseball team in Martinez, just northeast of San Francisco.
Con artists are always this way. The guys who own the company I work for are legit billionaires and they don’t own more than three cars. I find people who flaunt their wealth to be a huge red flag.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:30 pm to OweO
quote:With the ease of GPS now it'd be ez to convert to gold coin, chains, hell even bars. Head to shallow swamp and sink in mud wrapped in several layers plastic. GPS it.
That's what gets me.
If you keep your cash anywhere that is connected to you they will find it when they arrest you.
I wouldn't hide all of it in one location. I'd hide it in three different areas where there is no way anyone would think to go look for it. I'd have to really think about how i'd do it, but i'd make sure no one would find the cash.
Turn self in, serve time, fetch when released and head to Caribbean.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 8:32 pm to OweO
Self made millionaires are truly a different type than those that get handed the money.
The former is not necessarily driven by the almighty dollar, yet the latter most certainly is.
The former is not necessarily driven by the almighty dollar, yet the latter most certainly is.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 9:05 pm to mule74
quote:
Con artists are always this way. The guys who own the company I work for are legit billionaires and they don’t own more than three cars. I find people who flaunt their wealth to be a huge red flag.
Yes. Look at Warren Buffet. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in a relatively modest house (modest for a billionaire).
He drives a cadillac. Every morning on the way to his office he picks up a biscuit from McDonalds for breakfast.
I am not sure if anyone ever watched the mini-series on Showtime called Action. It's about different people in sports gambling. There was a guy who made a living off of sports betting (he had his own business, had people working for him, etc), there was some degenerate, a girl who does sports betting media and a guy named Vegas Dave.
Vegas Dave is one of these guys who sells packages that gives people access to his picks. One the show he was bragging about the cars he has, his house, how he owned a place in Mexico, where they showed him in another episode, which was by the beach, he had jewelry.. Everything about him said "look what I have".
He eventually admitted that he has to buy those things in order to show what people can have if they buy my picks. I looked online and saw a bunch of comments from people saying he was a fraud.
So yeah, I think those type of people do it to make people think they must be successful, which becomes part of their sales pitch.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 9:57 pm to OweO
quote:
Vegas Dave
Big time fraud. Dude is a joke in sports gambling circles.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 10:08 pm to NimbleCat
quote:
I believe these people have millions stashed someplace. 1.8 million is nothing stashed away from reading their expenditures.
Agree. This is actually a smart move. Keep a small chunk on hand so they think they have it all. Get out of club fed in 18 months, grab your cash, and get the frick out of Dodge.
Posted on 6/5/19 at 10:55 pm to Sidicous
quote:
With the ease of GPS now it'd be ez to convert to gold coin, chains, hell even bars. Head to shallow swamp and sink in mud wrapped in several layers plastic. GPS it.
Turn self in, serve time, fetch when released and head to Caribbean.
Bingo, people are fricking retarded for keeping cash. It's a fricking worthless piece of paper. Get that specie yo, Gold and silver
Posted on 6/6/19 at 7:34 pm to mule74
quote:
I find people who flaunt their wealth to be a huge red flag.
If I were OT Rich I would never flaunt it. Who needs all that attention?
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