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Owners of solar company that caused loss for Buffett plead guilty over Ponzi scheme
The husband-and-wife owners of DC Solar, a California solar company that caused Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) to take a $377 million charge last year, pleaded guilty on Friday to involvement in an estimated $912 million Ponzi scheme. Jeff Carpoff, 49, pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while Paulette Carpoff, 46, pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.
They entered their pleas in federal court in Sacramento, California. Jeff Carpoff faces up to 30 years in prison and Paulette Carpoff up to 15 years at their May 19 sentencing. Prosecutors called the criminal fraud scheme the largest in the Eastern District of California, which includes Sacramento.
They said that from 2011 to 2018, DC Solar entered $2.5 billion of transactions to sell mobile solar generators meant to provide emergency power to cellphone towers and lighting at sports events, attracting investors with associated federal tax credits.
But according to prosecutors, about half of the 17,000 generators did not exist, and the Benicia, California-based company used false financial statements and lease contracts to conceal the fraud. Authorities said the Carpoffs siphoned money to fund a lavish lifestyle including dozens of properties and vacation homes, a Nascar sponsorship, a stake in a private jet service, a holiday party featuring the rapper Pitbull, and at least 150 cars.
Malcolm Segal, a lawyer for Jeff Carpoff, said in an interview that his client “feels terrible that this business started out intending to provide clean energy and tax benefits to many large corporations, but unfortunately failed and resulted in his committing a number of illegal acts.” Paulette Carpoff’s lawyer Bill Portanova said in an interview: “She regrets absolutely what she did, and is looking forward to the difficult job of making amends.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed related civil charges against the couple.
Authorities said more than $120 million has already been forfeited from the scheme, including a 1978 Pontiac Firebird once owned by the actor Burt Reynolds. Last May, Berkshire said it had taken the $377 million charge in the prior quarter, after concluding that tax benefits it had accepted concerning investments in tax equity investment funds from 2015 to 2018 were “not valid.”
Buffett’s assistant confirmed at the time that the charge related to DC Solar. Last February, DC Solar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Reno, Nevada.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-dc-solar-fraud/owners-of-solar-company-that-caused-loss-for-buffett-plead-guilty-over-ponzi-scheme-idUSKBN1ZN2N8
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Citibank will reportedly hire 2,500 coders to bolster its trading and investment banking units
Citigroup is looking to hire 2,500 coders for its trading and investment banking units, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The move comes as major banks shift from in-person trading operations to algorithmic programs. About 75% of Citi's trades were electronic in 2019, Stuart Riley, global head of operations and technology for Citi's Institutional Clients Group, told Bloomberg.
The push for programmers reveals "what we are building in technology and why we are focused on making salespeople and traders more effective at servicing our clients," Riley said in an interview with Bloomberg.
"Technology is augmenting what humans do by making better use of data," he added.
Citi allocates about $8.5 billion, or 20% of its budget, to technology every year, according to Bloomberg. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have also been hiring more programmers to revamp their trading operations.
Citi's bolstered investment in electronic trading will help drive as much as $600 million in savings in 2020, Bloomberg reported. The firm recently shrank its trading business to meet efficiency goals. Citi's total hires fell to 199,000 by the fourth quarter of 2019, an 18% drop from five years prior.
Citi already used its growing tech team to automate pricing, news, and analytics, Riley told Bloomberg. The newest class of recruits will focus primarily on equities and fixed income projects, bringing data-driven efficiencies to inherently unpredictable businesses.
"The delineation between traders and technologists in markets is disappearing," Riley said.
The sentiment was echoed in September by Goldman Sachs' former trading chief Marty Chavez. The bank's tech guru summarized his time at Goldman as "making money, capital, and risk programmable," adding that traders and engineers won't exist "as two completely different things for long."
Citigroup traded at $79.42 per share at 11:15 a.m. ET Monday, down roughly 0.4% from Friday's closing price.
The bank has 22 "buy" ratings, four "hold" ratings, and one "sell" rating from analysts, with a consensus price target of $86.52, according to Bloomberg data.
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/citibank-hire-coders-trading-investment-banking-units-algorithmic-programmers-electronic-2020-1-1028796852