California former solar company exec sentenced to prison for ‘billion-dollar Ponzi scheme,’ prosecutors say
Alan Hansen, former executive of DC Solar, was ordered to pay hundreds of millions in restiution
Tariffs on solar panel imports hurting American jobs is a 'false narrative': Auxin Solar CEO
Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid discusses tariffs on solar panel imports, says US gives up 'energy dependence' for solar panels manufactured in other countries.
A former executive of a California-based solar power company was sentenced Tuesday to nearly a decade in prison for his role in what prosecutors say was a "billion-dollar Ponzi scheme."
Alan Hansen, 51, of Vacaville, pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiracy and money laundering charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
FILE: McGregor Scott, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, answers questions during a news conference in Sacramento Calif., Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncell, File / AP Newsroom)
Hansen, worked for DC Solar, a company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that marketed mobile solar generator units. The firm touted the versatility and environmental sustainability of the mobile solar generators, claiming that they provided emergency power to cellphone towers and lighting at sporting and other events, prosecutors said.
Company executives started telling investors they could benefit from federal tax credits by buying the generators and leasing them back to DC Solar, which would provide them to other companies for their use, prosecutors said.
CLIMATE EXPERT ON ‘PROBLEMS’ WITH BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S RENEWABLE ENERGY PUSH
The generators never provided much income, and prosecutors say the company ran a "billion-dollar Ponzi scheme," in which early investors were paid with funds from later investors.
The company eventually stopped building the mobile generators altogether, and prosecutors say at least half of the company's claimed 17,000 generators didn't exist.
Hansen had previously worked for a telecom company that did business with DC Solar. In that role, he accepted $1 million from co-conspirators at DC solar to fraudulently sign a false leasing contract for the generators, prosecutors said.
Then Hansen joined DC Solar, where he signed false agreements relating to the earlier contract, according to court documents.
In addition to his eight-year prison sentence, Hansen was also ordered to pay nearly $620 million in restitution.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Other defendants have pleaded guilty to criminal offenses related to the fraud scheme and have been sentenced or are scheduled for sentencing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.