A Fort Lauderdale financial advisor will be spending the next 20 years in a prison cell after being found guilty of captaining a decades-long international fraud scheme, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra handed Andrew Hamilton Jacobus, 64, a 240-month sentence in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sentence reflects the real harm to victims and sends a clear message: sophisticated financial fraud will be exposed and punished in South Florida,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Qui\u00f1ones.<\/p>\n
Jacobus started his career in finance in the early 1990s, but that quickly spiraled into him falsely portraying himself as a seasoned financial advisor who managed legitimate investment portfolios, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Over the years, he solicited funds through business entities he controlled and promised investors high-yield returns. In reality, he was running a Ponzi-scheme in which he would forge account statements, falsify financial documentation and divert client funds, according to court records.<\/p>\n
Jacobus was able to rake in over $90 million from more than 150 investors and used the money to \u201csupport a lavish personal lifestyle and unrelated business ventures,\u201d prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
More than 100 of his victims appeared during his sentencing hearing, about 20 in-person and 80 remotely, some offering testimonies to Judge Becerra, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a $94 million international fraud built on lies and broken trust,\u201d Reding Qui\u00f1ones said. \u201cThe defendant preyed on families, professionals, and faith-based institutions across our community and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scheme spanned South Florida and multiple countries, including Venezuela and Spain, and roped in powerful figures, such as members of the Venezuelan Archdiocese, lawyers and doctors, records show. Jacobus also defrauded members of his own family.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreed was Jacobus\u2019s greatest tool \u2014 paired with a computer and a phone, it fueled a scheme that stole millions and shattered lives,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker, of IRS Criminal Investigation\u2019s Florida field office. \u201cIRS Special Agents will continue to work tirelessly to uncover financial fraud and deliver justice to victims.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fort Lauderdale financial advisor will be spending the next 20 years in a prison cell after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[71991,71992,71993,249,251,250,71995,71994,71996,807],"class_list":{"0":"post-148816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-andrew-hamilton-jacobus","9":"tag-financial-advisor","10":"tag-financial-fraud","11":"tag-fort-lauderdale","12":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","13":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","14":"tag-international-fraud","15":"tag-jacqueline-becerra","16":"tag-prison-cell","17":"tag-south-florida"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148816","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=148816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}