An Irvine man who scammed $9.5 million from investors in a fraudulent solar power scheme to pay for his lavish lifestyle, including a 46-foot yacht and two Maseratis, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison on Friday, Feb. 18.
Michael James Sweaney, 58, of Irvine, used deceptive sales tactics to convince people to invest funds in his company, Nanotech Engineering Inc., the Department of Justice said in a statement. Sweaney and his salesforce told their victims his company had created a compact “Nanopanel” – which does not exist – with technology that could generate triple the electricity of traditional solar panels, officials said.
Sweaney said he would use their money to manufacture the Nanopanels, but instead he used it to fund his lifestyle, which also included a gold Cartier watch and cosmetic surgery, the Department of Justice said.
He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in April 2021. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Sweaney was also ordered to pay $9.7 million in restitution. He has agreed to forfeit the yacht, cars, the watch and approximately $1.5 million seized by investigators, prosecutors said.
The scheme included cold-calling investors, who were told that Nanopanels would take over the solar industry, court records show. Sweaney, who prosecutors say previously had been convicted of securities fraud in Nevada, used a different last name, according to a news release.
While the Nanopanel never truly existed, Sweaney and his nephew created a fake prototype to show to their investors, records show. At one point they hired an actor to “demonstrate” the Nanopanel outperforming a normal solar panel in the video.
There was a Nanotech Engineering facility in Irvine and another in Colorado, where the nephew, David Wayne Sweaney, 42, of Fort Collins, lived. The nephew assisted in using $300,000 in used solar panel manufacturing equipment to arrange for at least two potential investors to visit the Colorado facility, the Department of Justice said.
“We need to spend ALOT OF CASH, we need IMMEDIATELY equipment in the warehouse, without it JAIL, and that’s no joke, no equipment and using investment funds EQUALS JAIL, however spending money on equipment WILL SET US FREE,” Sweaney wrote in a 2018 email to his nephew.
David Sweaney also pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in September 2020. He was scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Source: Orange County Register
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