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A Fort Lauderdale financial advisor who pleaded guilty 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.
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’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said Thursday.
Prosecutors said Jacobus falsely portrayed himself as a seasoned financial advisor managing legitimate investment portfolios.
Between 2004 and 2023, he solicited funds through multiple corporations, promising access to secure investment products and high-yield returns.
But the reality was Jacobus was forging account statements, falsifying documentation and diverting client funds for “luxury personal expenditures” and to pay returns to earlier investors in classic Ponzi-scheme fashion, prosecutors said.
The scheme defrauded international investors who were primarily Venezuelan nationals.
Over 150 investors were victimized, including lawyers, doctors, members of the Venezuelan Archdiocese, former employees, and members of his own family, prosecutors said.
“This was a $94 million international fraud built on lies and broken trust,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. “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.”