Austin and Colton Paulhus each face 35 felony counts in a Sacramento County complaint over Anchored Tiny Homes.

Thirty-five counts each is what the license board, KCRA, ABC10, and the Daily Mail reported. A complaint is what prosecutors filed. The Jan. 12 date is the next hearing those accounts reported. It is not a verdict.

KCRA, in a story by Jeremiah Martinez updated at 10:29 p.m. PDT on Oct. 9, 2026, reported the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office filed felony charges against Austin James Paulhus and Colton Scott Paulhus, brothers and co-founders of Anchored Tiny Homes. It reported that according to a complaint they face 35 felony charges on accusations they conspired to divert construction funds, and that prosecutors claimed they billed customers and received a payment of over $1 million in multiple installments of 13 separate construction projects "despite performing no work and supplying no materials." NBC Bay Area, in a story by Chris Chmura published Oct. 9, 2026, and updated at 3:40 p.m., reported a 35-count criminal complaint and quoted the allegation that they "billed customers and received payment of approximately $1,046,433… despite performing no work and supplying no materials." ABC10, in a story by Jeannie Nguyen published at 3:51 p.m. PDT on Oct. 14, 2026, and updated at 11:24 p.m. PDT, reported each faces 35 felony charges, including conspiracy to commit a crime, diversion of funds, and willful theft of employee wages, and that prosecutors say they received about $1,046,433 for multiple construction projects despite performing no work. The Contractors State License Board's release, in a PDF whose metadata lists a creation time of Oct. 20, 2026, at 1:56 p.m. Pacific and whose text does not print that clock, says Colton Paulhus and Austin Paulhus each face 33 counts of diversion of construction funds, one count of conspiracy to commit a crime, and one count of employee wage theft. Thirty-three plus one plus one is 35. Willful theft of employee wages is ABC10's phrase. Employee wage theft is the license board's. The Daily Mail, by Sadie Whitelocks, updated at 7:37 p.m. EDT on Nov. 1, 2026, reported 35 felony counts each, more than $1 million for 13 construction projects without performing any work or supplying materials, and more than $653,000 allegedly diverted from company accounts for unrelated expenses. Over $1 million, about $1,046,433, and more than $1 million are three ways of stating the money. Thirteen projects, in KCRA and the Daily Mail, and more than 30 customers, in NBC Bay Area, are not the same count. NBC Bay Area reported the complaint alleges they "did wrongfully divert" money that more than 30 customers had paid them to build an accessory dwelling unit, and that they took more than $653,000 from company accounts "for expenses and activity unrelated to company projects." It reported the complaint does not lay out a money trail. ABC10's fetched text does not print 13, the $653,000, or "supplying no materials."

The court dates are later than the Oct. 9 complaint stories. NBC Bay Area on Oct. 9 reported the case was on the docket in Sacramento Superior Court the next week. ABC10 on Oct. 14 reported the brothers appeared virtually before a judge that Wednesday, briefly addressed the judge, and were ordered to appear at the next date unless they heard otherwise from the court or their attorneys. Oct. 14, 2026, was a Wednesday. ABC10 reported a judge ordered them to return Jan. 12 and that they are expected to appear in person. The license board's release says a settlement conference initially scheduled for the prior week has been continued until January 12, 2027. ABC10 does not print 2027 or the words settlement conference. The license board does not print "in person." The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office declined to comment, ABC10 reported. NBC Bay Area reported a representative said, "We do not discuss pending cases." ABC10 reported Colton Paulhus's attorney declined an interview, and that Austin Paulhus's attorney, Blair Goss, said, "It does not necessarily mean that there was fraudulent or criminal activity involved in that business failing," and, "People invest into companies all the time and those companies fail, and my heart goes out to those people, especially when they invested such a large amount of their own personal money." The Daily Mail reported both brothers have appeared in court but have not entered pleas. ABC10 reported they briefly addressed the judge. An appearance and a statement that no plea has been entered are not the same sentence, and the no-plea sentence is the Daily Mail's. KCRA, NBC Bay Area, and ABC10 do not print it.

What customers told the stations is not the complaint's total. KCRA reported that in September 2024 Renee Kumamoto said she hired the Fair Oaks-based company, paid $168,000 for a backyard unit planned around her father's cancer treatment, and that the company closed before breaking ground. It quoted her: "Within the time that I sent my last invoice to when they shut down was less than two and a half weeks. This is crazy." KCRA reported Katie Lucas said she paid $211,000 and was left with an unfinished project. NBC Bay Area reported Lucas, of San Leandro, said she had been waiting for charges, and it reported Bay Area customers said the company abandoned projects after taking tens of thousands of dollars up front. Two hundred eleven thousand dollars, and tens of thousands, are not the same figure. NBC Bay Area's sentence about families who had prepaid uses the spelling Anchored Tony Homes. Tony and Tiny are not the same word. NBC Bay Area reported count 21 involves Alan Miller in Oakland, who said in 2024 his family was out $80,000. ABC10 reported Janet Kaufman of El Dorado Hills said she lost $222,000, and that Carlos Lubiano, who performed work for the brothers, said he is still owed nearly $100,000. Those sums are what the customers told the stations. They are not a restitution order. The license board reported it investigated more than 200 consumer complaints across 18 California counties alleging abandoned accessory dwelling unit projects, unpaid subcontractors, payments in advance of work, and funds not used for the homeowners' projects, and that it revoked Anchored Tiny Homes' contractor license in November 2024. The Daily Mail reported the license was revoked in 2024 and did not print November. KCRA reported the company shut down without any prior notice to customers. The station's sentence spells that shutdown "unexcepted."

NBC Bay Area reported Colton Paulhus has said his customers' money is gone, that both brothers are seeking bankruptcy protection in federal court, and that when the offices closed he texted the reporter, "It was a failed business and I hate that it happened." The Daily Mail also reported they are seeking bankruptcy protection. ABC10 and the license board's release do not print the bankruptcy. NBC Bay Area reported that on a defunct podcast Colton Paulhus said, of 2023 revenue, "I can tell you right now a $100 million business." A podcast boast is not a line in the complaint. The Sacramento Business Journal's Oct. 6, 2026 story, timestamped 9:16 a.m. Eastern in the page metadata, describes each as facing 35 counts that include conspiracy, accepting payment for construction work that was not completed, and intentionally depriving a company employee of wages. Accepting payment for work that was not completed is not the same sentence as performing no work and supplying no materials. The complaint figures above are what KCRA, NBC Bay Area, ABC10, the license board, and the Daily Mail reported prosecutors allege. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.