Ray Brewer, a 66-year-old from Porterville, California, has been sentenced to over six years in federal prison for orchestrating an elaborate green energy scam. Between 2014 and 2019, Brewer defrauded investors out of $8.75 million by promising to convert cow manure into methane using anaerobic digesters. He claimed these digesters would be built at various dairies across California and Idaho, offering investors a 66% share of net profits along with tax incentives.
Brewer's deceptive tactics involved taking investors on tours of dairies, presenting them with forged lease agreements, fabricated loan documents, counterfeit contracts with international corporations, and even fake photos of digesters under construction. Instead of investing the funds as promised, Brewer diverted the money for personal use, purchasing land, a custom-built house, and multiple Dodge Ram pickup trucks.
To maintain the illusion, Brewer regularly updated investors with fabricated progress reports, including fake schedules, invoices, power generation data, and photographs. He even used funds from new investors to pay off earlier ones, creating a classic Ponzi scheme structure. Eventually, the scam unraveled, and some investors successfully sued Brewer. However, he evaded authorities for a period by relocating to Montana and adopting a new identity before ultimately being apprehended.
