Rule
of
thumb:
you
should
never
represent
your
client
in
a
way
that
will
make
you
need
a
lawyer
down
the
line.
As
much
as
it
is
in
your
rights
to
argue
up
and
down
that
your
client
is
on
the
straight
and
narrow,
once
you
cross
in
to
moving
money
and
making
up
misleading
documents
to
make
your
case,
it
is
only
a
matter
of
time
before
you’re
going
to
be
on
the
other
side
of
the
law.
That
time
eventually
caught
up
with
Ari
Lauer.
Reuters
has
coverage:
A
California
attorney
on
Tuesday
pleaded
guilty
a
week
before
he
was
set
to
face
trial
on
criminal
charges
stemming
from
his
role
in
an
estimated
$912
million
Ponzi
scheme
involving
California
solar
power
supply
company
DC
Solar.Ari
Lauer
pleaded
guilty
before
U.S.
District
Judge
Dale
Drozd
in
Sacramento
to
23
counts,
including
bank
fraud
and
wire
fraud
affecting
a
financial
institution.
The
finer
details
of
the
scheme
reads
like
one
of
those
“You
have
two
cows”
entries.
Over
the
span
of
about
7
years
DC
Solar
entered
contracts
promising
to
sell
solar
generators.
Totally
fine
at
face
value,
but
things
go
south
pretty
quickly
once
you
realize
DC
only
actually
had
about
half
of
the
17,000
or
so
generators
they
promised
to
sell
and
padded
out
the
numbers
that
didn’t
add
up
with
fraud.
Lauer’s
sentencing
is
scheduled
for
January
26th.
If
the
members
of
his
cohort
are
any
indication
of
what
he’s
in
for,
he’s
looking
at
some
serious
time.
Both
of
the
owners
of
DC
Solar
earned
a
good
deal
of
time
behind
bars:
Paulette
Carpoff
got
11
years
and
her
husband
Jeff
got
30.
That
said,
whatever
amount
of
money
Lauer
is
going
to
be
on
the
hook
for
will
be
dwarfed
by
the
$790M
Jeff
was
ordered
to
pay
back
to
the
people
he
frauded.
That
said,
this
might
be
the
end
of
his
law
license.
Solar
Firm’s
Lawyer
Pleads
Guilty
To
Ponzi
Scheme
Charges
[Reuters]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.