{"id":146205,"date":"2026-02-06T16:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/146205\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:22:10","slug":"fort-lauderdale-financial-advisor-gets-20-years-in-prison-in-94m-ponzi-scheme-nbc-6-south-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/146205\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale financial advisor gets 20 years in prison in $94M Ponzi scheme \u2013 NBC 6 South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Fort Lauderdale financial advisor who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcmiami.com\/news\/local\/fort-lauderdale-financial-advisor-pleads-guilty-in-94-million-ponzi-scheme\/3724252\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nbcmiami.com\/news\/local\/fort-lauderdale-financial-advisor-pleads-guilty-in-94-million-ponzi-scheme\/3724252\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">pleaded guilty<\/a> to a years-long international investment scheme that defrauded investors out of more than $94 million will be spending the next two decades behind bars, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Hamilton Jacobus, 64, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday after previously pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges, the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Southern District of Florida said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said Jacobus falsely portrayed himself as a seasoned financial advisor managing legitimate investment portfolios.<\/p>\n<p>Between 2004 and 2023, he solicited funds through multiple corporations, promising access to secure investment products and high-yield returns.<\/p>\n<p>But the reality was Jacobus was forging account statements, falsifying documentation and diverting client funds for &#8220;luxury personal expenditures&#8221; and to pay returns to earlier investors in classic Ponzi-scheme fashion, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme defrauded international investors who were primarily Venezuelan nationals.<\/p>\n<p>Over 150 investors were victimized, including lawyers, doctors, members of the Venezuelan Archdiocese, former employees, and members of his own family, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was a $94 million international fraud built on lies and broken trust,&#8221; U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Qui\u00f1ones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. &#8220;The defendant preyed on families, professionals, and faith-based institutions across our community and beyond. At 64 years old, he was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. That sentence reflects the real harm to victims and sends a clear message: sophisticated financial fraud will be exposed and punished in South Florida.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fort Lauderdale financial advisor who pleaded guilty to a years-long international investment scheme that defrauded investors out&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-146205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}