MIAMI, Florida — A Fort Lauderdale financial advisor has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for orchestrating a $94 million international investment fraud scheme targeting primarily Venezuelan nationals.
Andrew Hamilton Jacobus, a 64-year-old, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra after pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. “This was a $94 million international fraud built on lies and broken trust,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones. Jacobus falsely presented himself as a seasoned financial advisor while misappropriating investor funds for personal use and to pay returns to earlier investors in a Ponzi-scheme fashion, court records show.
Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker of IRS Criminal Investigation, Florida Field Office, stated, “Greed was Jacobus’s greatest tool — paired with a computer and a phone, it fueled a scheme that stole millions and shattered lives.” Jacobus’s fraudulent activities spanned multiple continents, affecting over 150 investors in South Florida, Venezuela, and Spain. Among the victims were lawyers, doctors, members of the Venezuelan Archdiocese, former employees, and family members…