Jury finds Twin Cities man guilty in wind energy scam

A federal jury in Minneapolis has found a Twin Cities man guilty on five counts of mail fraud in a wind energy investment scam.

Prosecutors say 52-year-old Gregory Jaunich of North Oaks took $1.5 million from investors in 2006 and 2007 and promised to use the money to develop a wind energy project near Fargo in Clay County, Minn.

Instead, authorities say he lied to investors about the status of the project and used their cash to pay personal expenses and fund other wind projects.

Jaunich faces 20 years in prison for each count.

In 2008, Jaunich was sentenced to nearly two years in prison plus supervised release for overbilling Northern States Power — now Xcel Energy — for wind power produced by a company he managed in Lincoln County a decade ago.

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