by Debbie Burke
Investors in Ray Brewer’s start-up company thought their money was being used to build anaerobic digesters in California and Idaho.
What is an anaerobic digester? A system that processes cow manure, breaking it down into methane gas, liquid fertilizer, and other byproducts, all of which are salable.
Methane gas can be sold as renewable energy, generating green energy tax credits. The byproducts of fertilizer and compostable materials can also be sold.
Sounds like a great solution, doesn’t it? Converting waste to an energy source and generating potential profits for investors in companies that sell the byproducts.
According to the Justice Department, starting in 2014, Brewer promoted his start-up company with ads in dairy industry publications and at renewable energy conferences. That resulted in nearly $9 million being raised.
Early investors received “profits,” except the profits were actually funds from new investors—the classic Ponzi scheme.
A November 2023 news release from the FBI says:
“Brewer also took investors on tours of dairies where he claimed he would build the digesters. And while Brewer had legitimate lease agreements with some dairies, other agreements were completely made-up.”
He further falsified documents claiming a bank had committed to lending $100 million to build the digesters. He generated bogus construction progress reports and forged a contract supposedly from a multinational corporation to buy methane and byproducts.
The digesters never existed. The entire scheme just so much hot gas.
Meanwhile, Brewer had moved investors’ money to multiple bank accounts in others’ names and used it to purchase property and expensive vehicles.
Eventually investors smelled something that could have been produced by the anaerobic digesters, if only they existed. When a civil suit was filed against Brewer, he moved to Montana and changed his identity. He also shifted money and assets into his wife’s name.
Photo credit: Hans at Pixabay
In Montana, where cows outnumber people, he attempted a similar Ponzi scheme, spreading more manure.
In 2019, the FBI and IRS opened investigations into Brewer’s operations. In 2020, he was arrested in Sheridan County, Montana but denied his true identity, saying they had the wrong man. Then he spun a tale, claiming to be a Navy veteran who’d saved the lives of soldiers during a fire.
That story turned out to be a big bubble of methane gas, too.
“Brewer ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft charges. In June 2023, he was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison for his crimes, and ordered to pay $8.75 million in restitution to the investors who fell victim.”
Photo credit: annigje at Pixabay
Suggestion to the parole board: How about two years of supervised release mucking out dairy barns?
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Go for it, TKZers! Looking forward to your creative comments!
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For a limited time, Instrument of the Devil, the first book in Debbie Burke’s award-winning thriller series, is FREE.
No BS.
Lovely in principle, but how are they going to make sure he stays at the job for the length of time he’s sentenced, doesn’t damage the cows (he’s probably quite angry at getting caught) or burn down the barns, and does a decent job of mucking?
That requires people to be supervisors of his efforts, and where he lives, etc. This is a slippery criminal, not a kid on probation. It will be expensive to ‘supervise’ his parole, and he’ll be thinking the whole time how to cheat his way out and flee to… Argentina?
Alicia, Argentina would indeed be fertile ground for this guy. Thanks for stopping by!
In the words of the immortal P.T. Barnum, there is one born every minute. The endless line of suckers guarantees con men will be there to take advantage of them.
This reminded me of the great movie The Sting. I think I’lll watch it again.
Morning, Brian! The best cons are where the scheme sounds plausible. With the current focus on green energy, along with potential tax credits. the concept makes sense. The joker is the crook behind it.
I haven’t seen a photo of Brewer but he’s probably not as handsome and charming as Paul Newman and Robert Redford!
Great story, Debbie.
In our rural community, with a few farmers having their own manure processing pits, more than one has been overcome by the fumes while working on the equipment in the pit, fallen into the pit, and not been found for days.
Stolen valor and a big pile of crap. Brewer the Bum should be buried under a mountain of manure.
And, on those pleasant words, have a wonderful day!
Haha, Steve! How about just burying the guy up to his neck so he can enjoy the fumes?
Scary about processing pits. Definitely give them a wide berth.
Good to see your smiling face, Steve!
👍
He’s obviously very intelligent. Imagine if he’d used those smarts to actually create a product that helped the environment. Instead in a less smart move, he moved to a new state and proceeded to do the same Ponzi scheme a second time, which is why he got caught. He would make a great antagonist in a story of a woman who falls for his BS (pun intended), even romantically involved with him, gets suspicious, figures out what he’s doing, and sets out to prove it. He tries to kill her off. She escapes and he ends up in jail (and not in a white collar prison doing a measly 6 years and nine months.) Off with his head for scamming good-hearted people of their hard-earned dollars!
Kelly, excellent plot idea! If you write it, let us know when it’s published.
Wow, just wow.
Okay, Debbie here goes. My comment takes this into left field:
“First up in the Dairy County Mysteries, “A Real Gas.” An inventor with a new get rich scheme which turned out to be a real load of cr*p is found dead from methane poisoning. The suspects are many. The murderer–all of them. The sleuth lets them off the hook because the fraudster had it coming.”
Okay, so Agatha Christie did it better in “Murder on the Orient Express,” but if you’re going to steal, steal from the greats, especially if you have a “stinky scheme” in mind.
There you have it. I’ll be here all week, don’t forget to tip the wait staff..
LOL, Dale! Thanks for the terrific blurb!
What a gas, Debbie. Too bad those poor investors didn’t realize this scheme smelled funny.
At least someone eventually raised a stink, Elaine!
I got a kick out of this story. Fun fact: While sleeping, cows can be tipped over with a gentle press of one finger. When I lived in the Berkshires, teenagers loved to go “cow tipping” at night. I always thought it was a rather mean activity. They told me there wasn’t much to do in cow country.
Sue, cow-tipping also used to be a popular recreation in Montana, along with “Chicken Bingo.”
For the uninitiated, Chicken Bingo requires checker-pattern floor tiles (not surprisingly, it’s usually played in a bar) where bets are placed on various squares. A chicken is turned loose on the floor. The winner is the one who chose the square where the chicken first poops. Kinder than cow tipping, for sure.
Long winters….
Great article, Debbie. There’s never an end to the creative ways scammers come up with to separate people from their money.
Brewer should be sentenced to ten years in a small cell with a smelly cow as his cellmate.
Except that’s not fair to the poor innocent cow, Kay 😉
Never ceases to amaze me how hard some folks are willing to work to be dumb.
Getting a real job and living a real life is so much easier, rewarding, and fulfilling than the stress and neck pain of always having to look over your shoulder or remember what lies you told to whom. Hmm…I may have just described some folks who are in the news right now…’nuff said.
🙂
Have a great day!
Deb, w/o villains, fiction would be pretty dull, but real life would sure be a lot nicer!