Wearing a saccharine grin, Ray Brewer swished fat fingers through a bucket of fertilizer pellets and rattled out the mating call of a con man—the sweet sound of money. In droves, the faithful dumped $8.75 million into his agricultural skin game.

Nestled in a basement chop shop beneath the glamor of an infinity pool and a house in the hills, Brewer bilked investors and farmers from 2014-2019, based entirely on cow manure and the lure of biogas, renewable energy, and tax incentives.

Most agriculture crimes are coated in a veneer of reality—enough truth to hide the rot. Not so with silver-tongued Brewer. His scam was a total lie.

He understood the rules of a modern ag heist: Nothing so green as a green energy con.