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A picture shows a solar-powered water generator that extracts potable water straight from the air donated by Watergen, a company owned by a Russian-Israeli businessman, in the Palestinian town of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza Strip, on November 16, 2020. - Watergen, has developed atmospheric water generators that can produce 5,000 to 6,000 litres (1,300 to more than 1,500 gallons) of drinking water per day, depending on the air's humidity. With just a few machines operating in Gaza, Watergen is far from meeting demand for the two million people who live in the crowded coastal enclave wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

After a California electrician was sentenced to three years in prison, he was now slammed with an order to pay $481.3 million in restitution on Tuesday for his role in a $1 billion Ponzi scheme.

California Electrician Posing Licensed Engineer Ordered to $481 Million in Ponzi Scheme

The said scheme conned Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and other companies.

According to the U.S. News, the prosecutors stated that the 46-year-old Joseph W. Bayliss was hired by the now shut down company DC Solar. The electric company which was based in Benicia, California, asked Bayliss to pose as a licensed engineer despite being only an electrician.

Based on the report of the Associated Press, the California electrician was charged with the inspection of mobile solar generator units on trailers, which the company marketed between 2011 and 2018. The units were considered capable of providing lighting at events and emergency power for cell phone companies.

However, DC Solar owners started advising their investors that if they leased the generators back to the company, they would be able to profit from federal tax credits. The prosecutors said that DC Solar would then let other companies use the leased generators.

Moreover, prosecutors stated earlier that investors of DC Solar were paid with money provided by newer investors, while the generators themselves never produced much profit. Generator production was ultimately halted completely, and prosecutors alleged that half of the company's reported stock of 17,000 generators never existed.

Also, prosecutors added that Bayliss helped the scheme to avoid being detected by covering up the fact that the company had stopped the production of generators. Despite knowing that it was false and an effort to deceive DC investors, he signed thousands of reports between 2016 and 2018 asserting that there were new generators available that would proceed for inspection and testing after receiving about $1 million for this work.

More Evidence Against California Electrician in $1 Billion Ponzi Scheme

Furthermore, prosecutors stated that Bayliss also shuffled vehicle identification numbers between the generators. In 2018, prosecutors pointed out that after investigators served search warrants on the company, they say the California electrician went to a company warehouse in Nevada. Bayliss destroyed at least 1,000 identification stickers and removed another 200 stickers from generators in the warehouse.

His sentencing came a week after DC Solar company co-owner Jeff Carpoff was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $790.6 million in restitution.

Carpoff and his wife, who has pleaded guilty, used the money in buying and investing in 32 properties, buying more than 150 luxury cars. The DC Solar co-owner even had a subscription to a private jet service, a NASCAR race car sponsorship, a semi-pro baseball team, and a suite at the new Las Vegas Raiders stadium.

Four other individuals have also pleaded guilty to related offenses and they were awaiting sentencing. While Bayliss was accountable for the restitution until it's paid off, others in the case also were accountable.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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