Former executive gets prison for $1 billion solar fraud

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A former energy executive in California  who took part in $1 billion solar power fraud that bilked Warren Buffett’s company and many others has been sentenced to six years in federal prison. Robert Karmann also was ordered Tuesday to pay $624 million in restitution. Karmann was the chief financial officer for DC Solar, a company based in Benicia in the San Francisco Bay Area that sold mobile solar generator units mounted on trailers. Prosecutors say the company defrauded investors by claiming they could lease back the generators to claim federal tax credits. The firm also stopped making the devices but claimed to have built thousands of them that didn’t exist.