A Green Energy Ponzi scheme was run from 2005 through 2009 and netted the scammers $54 Million. They were just sentenced today.
From Fox News:
Trio charged with running $54M green-energy Ponzi scheme
Three people were charged Thursday with running a $54 million Ponzi scheme built on promises of a green energy technology that would turn trash into fuel and "carbon-negative" housing developments, neither of which were ever developed, federal prosecutors said.
Troy Wragg, 34, of Georgia, Amanda Knorr, 32, of Pennsylvania, and Wayde McKelvy, 52, of Colorado, were charged with wire and securities fraud and conspiracy. It wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys who could comment on their behalf.
Prosecutors said the trio lied to investors that their "biochar" technology and "carbon-negative" housing in Tennessee made millions, but they had almost no earnings and used the money to repay earlier investors and for themselves.
The scam allegedly ran from 2005 until 2009, even after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Wragg and Knorr's Mantria Corp. They were ordered in 2012 to pay $37 million each.
And it gets better:
Before the Ponzi scheme was shut down, the company was honored by former President Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative for its effort to "help mitigate global warning" through developing the biochar technology that it said would sequester carbon dioxide and reduce emissions in developing countries. Wragg appeared on stage with Clinton to receive the honor in September 2009.
They were selling the sizzle and not the steak. People wanted to believe and didn't take the couple hours needed to make a few telephone calls.
There is quite the exhaustive timeline at this Weebly (a free web hosting entity) website: Mantria Ponzi Scheme