On October 2, 2024 three U.S. agencies moved against one carbon-credit developer, charging its founder over allegedly false cookstove data, in the voluntary market's first fraud action. The episode sorts carbon-market wrongdoing into criminal, civil, legal-but-wrong over-crediting, and unadjudicated allegation. The frauds that reached court concerned money or measurement, while the market's largest losses came from things that broke no law.
Who's who
- Kenneth NewcombeFounder of C-Quest Capital, charged in 2024, denies allegations, untried
- Jason SteeleC-Quest's former chief operating officer, convicted by guilty plea
- Joseph SanbergAspiration co-founder sentenced to 14 years in 2026 for fraud
- Andrew MacintoshAustralian National University professor who called Australia's scheme largely a sham
- Ian ChubbFormer Chief Scientist whose review found the Australian scheme essentially sound
Where it happens
- Manhattan, New YorkWhere prosecutors unsealed the C-Quest indictment
- MalawiWhere reporting found broken, unused cookstoves
- Australia+1 more episodeSite of the dispute over regeneration credits
- Brazil+3 more episodesLocation of the carbon-credit fraud case charged in November 2025
Timeline
- 2012Dosanjh is sentenced to 15 years for the British carbon VAT carousel.
- October 2, 2024The Manhattan indictment, the CFTC action, and the SEC settlement are announced together.
- October 17, 2024Verra cancels 5,004,915 credits from over-issued C-Quest projects.
- February 27, 2025C-Quest files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- November 2025Brazil charges 31 people in a carbon-credit case; none are convicted.
- June 1, 2026Sanberg is sentenced to 14 years.
Still debated
Newcombe and Goswami deny the charges and are untried, and the Brazilian defendants are presumed innocent. Australia's scheme is disputed between a critic who called it a sham, a review that found it sound, and later papers disagreeing about whether satellite data can detect sparse regrowth.