Now-Connecticut Resident Sentenced In Federal Phony Submarine Company Investment Case

COLCHESTER, CT — A former resident of Hawaii now hailing from Colchester has been sentenced as part of a $27 million investment fraud case in the shipbuilding industry, federal prosecutors said.

The participants were two formerly married people who had roles in a more than decade-long scheme to defraud hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars in connection with Semisub Inc., a Hawaii-based company, authorities said. Curtiss E. Jackson, 72, of Honolulu, Hawaii, was sentenced to thirteen years in prison, and Jamey Denise Jackson, 62, currently of Colchester, and formerly of Honolulu, was sentenced to two years in prison, Authorities said.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Curtiss Jackson and Jamey Denise Jackson, who were respectively Semisub’s CEO and President, falsely told investors for years that the prototype vessel, Semisub One, was "weeks" or "months" away from beginning operations. The couple 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 Semisubs for tens of millions of dollars — among other misrepresentations, according to case records.

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

Curtiss Jackson also sent a death threat to Jamey Denise Jackson 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, according to case records.

Curtiss Jackson further "obstructed an official proceeding" by attempting to flee U.S. territorial waters aboard the Semisub One, which was subject to criminal forfeiture proceedings, on the day before his bond revocation hearing, case records show.

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 while on pretrial release.

In January, 2023, Jamey Denise Jackson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.