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If you were to visit DC Solar\\u2019s website, you\\u2019d see a professional-looking dot-com, tiled with images of the company\\u2019s solar generators in action. You\\u2019ll also notice the proud press releases focusing on DC Solar\\u2019s sponsorship of premier NASCAR brands, including Chip Ganassi Racing.

What you won\\u2019t see is that the Ganassi sponsorship fizzled after the company was raided in December of 2018 \\u2013 under suspicion it\\u2019s being operated as a Ponzi scheme \\u2013 and after its assets were frozen, subsequently filed for bankruptcy.

DC Solar is being accused of selling and renting solar generators to major companies \\u2013 including manufacturers like Sherwin Williams.

According to Bloomberg, the company was tricking buyers into believing they were eligible for lucrative tax credits and deductions, which were later determined to be invalid. Investigators also found shady bookkeeping that suggested that what appeared on paper to be lease sales were actually being covered by investor funds and early investors were being paid back by later ones which\\u2026 kind of does sound like a Ponzi Scheme.

And while many successful companies became intertwined with DC Solar, the most recent to come out has been Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company run by the famous billionaire Warren Buffett, who just took a write-down of $377 million related to its investment in the company.

For its part, DC Solar still contends that it\\u2019s a legitimate business. In fact, an attorney for Jeff Carpoff \\u2013 the CEO behind the company whose home was also raided by the FBI -- told Bloomberg that DC Solar was \\u201can innovative\\u201d and \\u201c credible\\u201d business, and that \\u201cany allegation that there was a Ponzi scheme or anything illegal about the operation of the business is without merit.\\u201d

The case is still playing out, but it\\u2019s a bit tough to give Jeff Carpoff, and his wife Paulette, the benefit of the doubt when you get a look at the lavish lifestyle they led \\u2013 as laid out by Business Insider. The report outlines millions in expenditures from the power couple, including a professional baseball team, a nearly $800,000 box at the new Raiders stadium in Nevada, and millions in planes and cars.

Business Insider adds that the company\\u2019s headquarters was sitting on literal piles of cash, including about $2 million hidden in safes and in desk drawers. Then there are anecdotes like the following, that don\\u2019t help to prove you\\u2019re running an above-board business: according to Bloomberg\\u2019s sources,\\xa0

\\u201cJeff Carpoff often pulled out up to $2,000 in cash at staff meetings, challenged employees to guess how much he was holding, and handed the wad to whoever made the best guess.\\u201d

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