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…
