A Hawaii-based man, Curtiss E. Jackson, was convicted by a federal jury for his involvement in a decade-long fraudulent scheme that cost investors of Semisub Inc. and Semisub LLC (collectively referred to as "Semisub") over $28 million.
Court documents and trial evidence revealed that 71-year-old Jackson, who held the position of CEO among other corporate roles at Semisub, had been fraudulently soliciting investments in the company. Along with his co-conspirator, Jackson misled investors for years by claiming that their prototype vessel, Semisub One, was just "weeks" or "months" away from starting operations.
Furthermore, Jackson made false claims about Semisub entering into agreements or establishing relationships with government agencies and a private investment firm to construct and sell a fleet of "Semisubs" for tens of millions of dollars. The duo also misused investor funds to finance luxury residences in Hawaii and California, a Mercedes-Benz car, high-end vacations, psychics, and marijuana.
During the investigation period, Jackson sent a death threat to his co-conspirator via text message containing a link to an online video titled “Death of FBI Informants.” This video featured clips from a TV series showing the deaths of characters who had cooperated with the FBI. In addition to this, he attempted to obstruct an official proceeding by trying to escape US territorial waters aboard the Semisub One on the eve of his bond revocation hearing.
Jackson was found guilty on multiple charges including securities fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, witness tampering, and obstruction of an official proceeding while on pretrial release. His sentencing is scheduled for September 23rd. He could face up to 20 years in prison for each count plus an additional 10 years for committing an offense while on release.
The announcement came from Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors for the District of Hawaii; Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group; and Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Seattle Field Office.
The case was investigated by USPIS and IRS-CI, with prosecution led by Trial Attorneys Jennifer Bilinkas, Kate McCarthy, Christopher Fenton, and Matthew Reilly of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Nammar and Aislinn Affinito for the District of Hawaii.