A contractor from California has been fined $10,000 after he admitted to lying about being the victim of a fraud and forgery scheme.
The contractor, a solar energy consultant who has not been named, admitted to the scam at a hearing on Wednesday.
“The facts in the case were so clear, it’s hard to imagine that he didn’t know,” U.S. District Judge Robert R. Kaplan told a federal magistrate judge in San Jose, Calif.
“He was very proud of his role in this scheme.”
The judge found that SolarCity, a California-based solar company, had not provided sufficient documentation to justify its contract with the U.N. Development Program to install solar panels on U.D. property.
The U.K.-based company is appealing the fine.
SolarCity has faced mounting criticism for what it says is its lax oversight of its solar contracts.
A U.B.C. study found that solar projects with the firm’s help were less likely to receive contracts in recent years.
The company has also been sued for failing to comply with U.A.E. standards on clean energy, but it says it does not know of any incidents involving fraud.
