They've been on the feds' radar for years, and even forced to shut down. Now, some resolution to the cliffhanger. Unsealed in the District Court of Guam today, an indictment against Missouri-based owner of Hansen Helicopters and his top executives.

They're in the red with the feds after trying to fly by strict safety regulations set by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Hansen Helicopters owner John D. Walker, Executive Vice President Marvin R. Reed, Director of Operations Kenneth R. Crowe, and Director of Maintenance Phillip Kapp are named in an indictment unsealed in the District Court of Guam on Thursday.

Charges include conspiracy to defraud the national transportation safety board and the federal aviation administration, conspiracy to defraud the federal aviation administration, honest services fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, destruction, alteration, or falsification of records, attempted destruction of an aircraft, false statement, and notice of forfeiture allegations.

According to court documents, the scheme started as early as 1997. The defendants cut corners to reduce costs and maximize profits, but "put property and lives at grave risk."

The scheme involved obtaining aircrafts that had been previously de-registered because they were destroyed, scrapped, or otherwise deemed not airworthy, then faking the documentation to put those helicopters back in service.

One such aircraft had crashed and killed pilot Rafael Antonio Cruz Santos.

KUAM files show Timothy J. Cislo, a FAA Aviation Safety Inspector, already confessed to receiving more than 22-thousand dollars payment from a Hansen employee.

Cislo, according to court documents, signed off and reissued FAA airworthiness certificates to several aircrafts that had never been inspected or examined.

Crowe, Reed, and Kapp were arrested earlier today and made their first court appearance.