Bay Area man sentenced to prison for involvement in billion dollar Ponzi scheme

A Vacaville man was sentenced to eight years in prison for his participation in a Benicia-based solar company that turned out to be a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced in a Department of Justice news release.

Alan Hansen, 51, was also ordered to pay $619 million in restitution for his involvement. Hansen is the fourth person involved in DC Solar to be sentenced to prison, following founder Jeff Carpoff to 30 years and electrician Joseph Bayliss to three in November, and CFO Robert Karmann to six years in April.

According to the news release, DC Solar manufactured mobile solar generators intended to be mounted on trailers between 2011 and 2018. The company placed an emphasis on environmental sustainability and claimed they could provide emergency power to cellphone towers and lighting at sporting and other events. The company sponsored NASCAR drivers, and the owners also used the money to found the now-defunct Martinez Clippers baseball team.

However, the company was shut down by the FBI in 2018 after it was determined that at least half of the 17,000 generators did not exist and the owners defrauded investors.

“Jeff Carpoff, 51, Paulette Carpoff, 51, both of Martinez, and their co-conspirators solicited investors by claiming that there were favorable federal tax benefits associated with investments in alternative energy,” the Department of Justice wrote. “They sold solar generators that did not exist to investors, making it appear that solar generators existed in locations that they did not, creating false financial statements, and obtaining false lease contracts, among other efforts to conceal the fraud.”

Per court documents reported in the news release, Hansen’s involvement with DC Solar began through his employment at a telecommunication company with which DC Solar did limited business.

“In that role, Hansen accepted $1 million from co-conspirators at DC Solar to fraudulently sign a false contract reflecting a much greater amount of supposed business leasing MSGs,” the DOJ write. “Hansen’s co‑conspirators used that false contract to induce substantial investments by victims in DC Solar.”

After he signed the contract, Hansen left his job to work at DC Solar. As an executive, Hansen and a co-conspirator agreed to share $20,000 cash from Carpoff to sign a fraudulent agreement related to the earlier contract by forging the signature of a former telecommunications business employee. Hansen’s co-conspirators utilized the false contract and forged agreement to extort more money from DC Solar clients.

“Hansen was paid for signing the first false contract through a series of interstate wire transfers into an account he set up in the name of a consulting company,” the DOJ wrote. “Hansen knew the money he received came from payments by DC Solar investors, and that DC Solar was deceiving them to induce those payments.”

On July 23, 2020, Hansen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and aiding and abetting money laundering.

Cardoff’s wife, Paulette, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and money laundering, and is slated to be sentenced on June 28. Others involved, including Ryan Guidry of Pleasant Hill and Ronald Roach of Walnut Creek are scheduled to be sentenced June 7 and 28 respectively. Carpoff and Guidry face a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison, while Roach faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years, per the DOJ. However, the actual sentences will be determined at the discretion of the court after taking a number of factors into consideration, the DOJ wrote.