Man duped investors $8.7M in ponzi scheme

A Porterville man pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft charges in connection to a multimillion dollar scheme in which he duped investors about his experiments on Central Valley farms — including in Kern County — revolving around transforming cow manure into green energy.

Ray Brewer, 66, stole $8.7 million by claiming he built anaerobic digesters on dairies in Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties. Those machines use microorganisms to break down biodegradable material, turn it into methane and sell that gas on the open market. Investors falsely believed they would get 66 percent of net profits and tax incentives collected by selling such products, said a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of California.

Brewer took investors on tours of dairies and made it look as if he had millions of dollars in loans to build digesters — none of this is true, the news release said. He also sent investors supposed evidence about contracts with multinational companies that looked like he had additional revenue, but that also wasn’t true, the news release added.

After collecting money from investors, Brewer transferred those funds to other bank accounts he had opened under the names of different entities, his family members and an alias, the news release said. The fake identities allowed him to hide where he spent the money for personal reasons, the news release said.

Brewer bought multiple plots of land that were each 10 acres or more, a 3,700- square-foot custom home and new Dodge Ram pickup trucks, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added.

Brewer — who’s also from Sheridan, Mont., — further duped investors by sending them fake construction schedules, fake invoices for project-related costs, fake power generation reports and fake pictures, federal prosecutors wrote.

Investors appeared to have gotten their money back when Brewer purported to refund them — but, that money came from other investors, the news release said. Federal prosecutors wrote Brewer moved to Montana when he began facing litigation for his schemes and adopted a new identity.

When arrested, Brewer said he was falsely arrested and then finally admitted who he was, federal prosecutors said.

Brewer faces 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the wire fraud conviction. Brewer also faces 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount of money involved for the money laundering conviction, whichever is greater, the news release added.