Hawaiian shipyard CEO sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment for $29m investment fraud scheme

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said that a formerly married couple was sentenced earlier this month for their roles in a more than decade-long scheme to defraud hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars in connection with Semisub, a Hawaii-based company.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Curtiss E. Jackson, 72, of Honolulu, and Jamey Denise Jackson, 62, currently of Cochester, Connecticut, and formerly of Honolulu, who were respectively Semisub’s CEO and President, falsely told investors for years that the prototype sightseeing vessel Semisub One was “weeks” or “months” away from beginning operations.

The DOJ said the defendants also solicited funds based on false statements that Semisub had entered into agreements or developed relationships with government agencies and a private investment firm to build and sell a fleet of vessels for tens of millions of dollars — among other misrepresentations.

As a part of the scheme, the defendants used investor funds to pay for luxury residences in Hawaii and California, a Mercedes-Benz automobile, luxury vacations, psychics, and marijuana.

Curtiss Jackson also sent a death threat to Jamey Denise during the investigation, in the form of a link to an online video entitled “Death of FBI Informants” containing graphic clips from The Sopranos television series depicting the deaths of several characters who had cooperated with the FBI.

Curtiss Jackson further obstructed an official proceeding by attempting to flee the United States’ territorial waters aboard Semisub One, which was subject to criminal forfeiture proceedings, on the day before his bond revocation hearing.

In May 2024, Curtiss Jackson was convicted of securities fraud, conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, witness tampering, and obstructing an official proceeding while on pretrial release. In January 2023 Jamey Denise Jackson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.

Curtiss Jackson was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Jamey Denise Jackson was sentenced to two years in prison.

The US Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.