A Broward County man who portrayed himself as an international financial advisor for decades pleaded guilty last week to wire fraud and money laundering after amassing more than $94 million by misappropriating investor funds and orchestrating a Ponzi scheme, federal prosecutors said.
Andrew Hamilton Jacobus, 64, of Fort Lauderdale, founded two companies, Finser International Corporation and Kronus Financial Corporation, that he purported to use to invest funds to “various lucrative investments,” including Certificates of Deposit and shares of companies, for well above market averages, according to a factual proffer, the facts of the case agreed on by the defense and government.
“In reality, Jacobus forged account statements, falsified documentation, and diverted client funds to luxury personal expenditures and Ponzi payments,” the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Florida said in a news release Thursday.
He gave investors information booklets and presentations that included above average rates of return on the fund since 2012 and used some of the investors’ money to pay back others, the factual proffer said. He also managed investors already existing accounts and used some of the money for himself or to pay back other clients.
One victim was a nonprofit group in Venezuela that supports Venezuelan Catholic Church priests with health benefits and retirement funds, which Jacobus worked with since at least 2006, according to the factual proffer. The group invested more than $4 million with Jacobus, and he diverted that for his own use and to repay other clients.
A few months later, he resigned as the nonprofit’s financial advisor, admitting in a resignation letter that he owed them more than $6 million.
“This is just one example of Jacobus’ mismanagement of victim funds over the years,” the factual proffer said.
Jacobus entered a plea agreement Nov. 14 and faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each count. He will be sentenced in February.
