Story ID: 
Ex-Hansen Helicopters CEO Sentenced to 33 Years
By: Mark Huber
Caption: CEO was found guilty of fraud related to unapproved aircraft parts
Word Count: 284
Former Hansen Helicopters CEO John D. Walker, 60, today was sentenced by federal judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood to 33 years and nine months of confinement, meaning he likely will spend the rest of his life in federal prison. Walker was convicted of multiple counts of aircraft parts fraud, bribery, money laundering, and employing unlicensed pilots and mechanics by a jury in the Guam District Court in 2022 after an eight-month trial and has been in custody since. He will be credited for time served.
He was also fined $250,000 and ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to forfeit all assets connected to the crimes. The government estimated this amount at $400 million, but used Hansen’s net sales over decades to calculate the amount. The actual value of his assets is around $58 million, according to court documents, including thousands of acres of Missouri farmland and a large collection of personal aircraft.
Hansen operated a fleet of 50 Hughes 369 helicopters for tuna spotting in the northwestern Pacific. The government charged that Walker, who purchased Hansen in 1998, conducted a decades-long, wide-reaching fraud scheme that involved using counterfeit aircraft parts and data plate swapping to create a fleet of “Frankenstein helicopters” registered to a variety of international shell companies.
The U.S. government asserted that his behavior was responsible in part for up to 30 crashes that claimed nine lives. Walker was one of several Hansen executives and suppliers originally indicted in 2018, along with former FAA inspector Timothy Cislo. Other defendants have either died, reached plea deals with prosecutors, or had their cases dismissed.
Walker was the first to be sentenced. He declined to make a statement in court during his sentencing.