Government: Jailed Walker Continues To Run Hansen Helicopters

by Mark Huber
- April 20, 2023, 12:52 PM

Hansen Helicopters CEO John Walker.Hansen Helicopters CEO John Walker is continuing to run his criminal enterprise from behind bars via straw men and alter-ego corporations, alleges a civil suit filed earlier this month by the U.S. government. The suit seeks to enjoin Hansen and Walker from what amounts to the furtherance of a criminal enterprise.

On Sept. 9, 2022, a Guam federal district court jury found Hansen Helicopters and Walker guilty on some 100 counts related to conspiracy; defrauding the FAA and the NTSB; bribery; aircraft parts fraud, causing serious bodily injury and death; falsification of aircraft registration; employing unlicensed mechanics and pilots; wire fraud; and money laundering. Hansen operated a fleet of 48 Hughes 369-series turbine single helicopters used aboard tuna spotting boats in the Western Pacific. The government is seeking forfeiture of all of Hansen’s and Walker’s assets related to what it charged is $400 million worth of fraud tied to the convictions.

Walker has been incarcerated since Sept. 12, 2022, and is awaiting sentencing; however, that proceeding has been delayed pending the resolution of motions for judgment of acquittal, a new trial, and supplements to a pending motion for mistrial. For these matters to move forward, the defense needs a trial transcript. The court notes that the transcripts will not be available until October “as the court reporter is currently overburdened with pending trials and appeals.”

In the new civil suit, the government seeks to end Hansen’s operations and enjoin both it and Walker from “leasing, reselling, or allowing his helicopters, or their parts, or those helicopters, or parts by alter egos, to be operated, installed, registered, deregistered, reregistered, or otherwise used in any way pending a final determination in this case.” The government alleges that, following Hansen’s initial indictment in 2018, the company and Walker moved to transfer helicopters and operations to a variety of offshore “shell” corporations, including Pacific Spotters in the Philippines.

During the closing days of Hansen and Walker’s conjoined 2022 criminal trial, a helicopter registered to Pacific.Spotters crashed on a maintenance flight, killing the pilot. The government maintains that death and nine others directly resulted from Hansen’s illegal practices. As part of the civil filing, the government maintains, “Despite the blood already on their hands, Walker’s alter-ego corporations, coconspirators, agents, employees, and nominees continue to conduct the enterprise in violation of federal law. This action seeks to put an end to this enterprise; its flagrant, continued violation of safety regulations; and the risk it poses to human life.”

In related proceedings, Spares—an Oregon company that allegedly provided Hansen with a variety of unapproved parts over two decades, including defective tail rotor pitch change links—pleaded guilty earlier today to multiple counts of aircraft parts fraud, charges that carry up to a $10 million fine, as well as a “special penalty assessment.” In remarks before the court, prosecutor Marie Miller said the pitch change links failed on “numerous” Hansen helicopters that resulted in at least one death.

“The evidence also showed that Hansen never purchased a legitimate tail rotor pitch change link from any other company,” that “pilots and mechanics were required to jerry-rig the tail rotor pitch change links to make them work because they didn't work because they were not made to the proper specifications,” and that “foreign material was used to hold the part together while the helicopter was operating.”

Charges against Spares’ CEO Frank Litkei Sr. were dropped after he suffered a stroke and later died in 2021. The government alleges that Spares made $945,000 selling the pitch change links to Hansen. In court proceedings earlier this year, Litkei’s widow, Christine Litkei, maintained that neither her late husband’s estate nor his company, have any significant assets—a charge vigorously contested by prosecutors.

During a status hearing earlier this year, prosecutors alleged that Christine Litkei transferred six-figure amounts from Spares into her own account via a company she called “Christine Consulting” shortly before and after Spares was initially indicted, that her late husband’s estate is worth well over $1 million, and that Spares’ assets could be worth as much as $1.5 million. Prosecutor Marie Miller accused Litkei of using Spares’ assets as her “personal piggy bank” and claimed that she had made “intentional misrepresentations” to the government and the court.

“She’s been jerking us around for months,” said Miller. “She’s trying to commit a fraud on this court.”

Appearing on behalf of Spares yesterday, Christine Litkei maintained that Spares was dissolved but stated that she was prepared to personally onboard at least some of the liability associated with the company’s guilty plea. Sentencing is pending.

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