Former CFO of 'green' group pleads guilty to skimming federal funds

The former chief financial officer of a Knoxville nonprofit group that promotes energy from renewable sources has pleaded guilty to skimming federal funds. Cameron J. Potter worked for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Dale told U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips on Tuesday that Potter concocted a scheme in 2006 to skim $400,000 in Department of Energy grant money by creating phony invoices - a plot that he carried out for three years. In a plea agreement, Potter pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering, according to The Knoxville News-Sentinel...more