In Oregon, the owner of Gold Star Farms—a company based in Ghana allegedly set up to grow jatropha and produce biodiesel—is being tried for fraud after having supposedly swindled more than $1 million from Christian investors in a scheme that federal prosecutors say never intended to actually produce biofuel. The defendant’s attorney says the accused instead was swindled by a “real” con artist who was the real ringleader. One witness said the accused spent money “like a drunk sailor
