Vacaville man gets 8 years in prison over solar Ponzi scheme
(Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
A Vacaville man who plead guilty to participating in a Ponzi scheme linked to a Solano County-based solar energy company has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison, prosecutors announced on Monday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Alan Hansen, 51, worked for a telecom company that had business with Benicia-based DC Solar. Between 2011 and 2018, the solar company manufactured mobile solar generators that its executives falsely told investors were in high demand.
Hansen reportedly accepted a $1 million bribe in exchange for a fraudulent contract that falsely claimed the number of mobile solar generating equipment purchased from DC Solar. He later left the unnamed telecom to work for DC Solar as a high-paid executive, prosecutors said.
While at DC Solar, he conspired with another executive to forge the signature of a telecom employee on a number of false contracts, prosecutors claimed. Those contracts were eventually used to bilk more investors out of money.
Hansen ultimately pled guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges. He was sentenced on Monday to eight years in federal prison, though he will likely serve less time with the application of earned time credits and if he participates in recidivism-reduction programming. Hansen will also likely be eligible for placement in a residential re-entry center — also known as a halfway house — which could reduce his prison sentence even more.
A judge also ordered Hansen to pay more than $619 million in restitution connected to the scheme, prosecutors said.
Several other defendants have also been sentenced to prison, including Robert Karmann, 55, who was given a six year prison sentence, and 46-year-old Martinez resident Joseph Bayliss who was sentenced to three years in prison. Karmann was ordered to pay $624 million in restitution, while Bayliss will pay more than $481 million in restitution.
Last year, the owner of DC Solar, Jeff Carpoff, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $790 million in restitution in connection with the Ponzi scheme.
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