HONOLULU – A formerly married couple, who served as CEO and President of a Hawaiʻi-based company, has been sentenced to prison for their roles in a more than decade-long scheme to defraud hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars. The company, Semisub Inc., was the center of the fraud, which involved false claims about its prototype vessel.
Curtiss E. Jackson, 72, of Honolulu, was sentenced to thirteen years in prison, while his former wife, Jamey Denise Jackson, 62, was sentenced to two years.
According to court documents, the Jacksons falsely told investors for years that their prototype vessel, “Semisub One,” was just “weeks” or “months” away from starting operations. They also secured funds by claiming the company had agreements with government agencies and a private investment firm to build and sell a fleet of vessels for tens of millions of dollars. Instead, the couple used investor money to pay for luxury residences in Hawaiʻi and California, a Mercedes-Benz, luxury vacations, psychics, and marijuana.
The case also involved additional crimes by Curtiss Jackson, who was convicted of witness tampering for sending a death threat to Jamey Denise Jackson during the investigation. Jackson also attempted to obstruct an official proceeding by trying to flee U.S. territorial waters on the “Semisub One” the day before his bond revocation hearing.
In May 2024, Curtiss Jackson was convicted by a jury of securities fraud, conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, witness tampering, and obstructing an official proceeding. Jamey Denise Jackson had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in January 2023.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaiʻi.