Fort Atkinson Home Improvement Contractor And His Wife Sentenced To Prison For Fraud And Money Laundering

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Tyler Hansen, 52, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 7 years in federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering. His wife, Jennifer Hansen, 43, was sentenced by Judge Conley to 33 months in prison for money laundering. The Hansens pleaded guilty to these charges on October 4, 2023.  

Between October 2020 and September 2022, Tyler Hansen operated a home improvement business based in Dane County and Jefferson County. The business  operated under multiple names, including Weathersealed Wisconsin and EcoView Windows of South-Central Wisconsin. Hansen entered into contracts for home improvement projects with customers throughout Wisconsin, knowing that he did not intend to order supplies for the jobs or otherwise start the projects. The contracts were for various home improvement projects, including windows, sunrooms, bathrooms, roofs, and doors.  When contracts for projects were signed, Hansen required that customers pay 50% of the total contract price as a down payment. Rather than use the money from customer down payments to pay project related expenses, Hansen used the money for personal expenses.  In total, the Hansens stole over $800,000 from over 100 victims across Wisconsin during the fraud scheme.

Hansen, together with his wife, also engaged in money laundering. The Hansens used multiple financial transactions to conceal and disguise the true nature of the funds in their bank accounts and to make it more difficult for clients to receive refunds of their down payments. They deposited down payment checks from customers into multiple business bank accounts then transferred the funds to multiple personal accounts.  

 At the sentencing hearing, Judge Conley called the Hansens’ actions “horrific” because they targeted elderly and vulnerable people and resulted in substantial financial losses. Judge Conley also explained that while both the Hansens lied to victims, Tyler Hansen deserved a longer sentence because he was the driving force behind the scheme and had a prior criminal history.

In order to determine the appropriate amount of restitution owed to the victims in the case, Judge Conley scheduled a hearing for March 15, 2024, at 1:00 pm.

The charges against the Hansens were the  result of an investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, and the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of law enforcement officers and district attorneys’ offices in the following counties in Wisconsin:  Richland, Vernon, Grant, Dane, Fond Du Lac, Green Lake, Jefferson, Vilas, Walworth, Waukesha, Iowa, Kenosha, Adams, Columbia, Green, Monroe, Rock, Sauk, Winnebago, Sheboygan, Dodge, and Brown. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner handled the prosecution.