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A former tv monetary analyst accused of defrauding buyers out of tens of millions of {dollars} and spending years on the run was sentenced to 5 years in jail, the Justice Division mentioned Monday.
James Arthur McDonald Jr., 53, can also be anticipated to be ordered to pay restitution to his victims following his April 7 responsible plea for securities fraud.
“To his victims, (McDonald) appeared to embody the American Dream,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “However seems to be could be deceiving, and as (McDonald’s) victims realized, their belief had been betrayed.”
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James Arthur McDonald Jr., a former CNBC visitor monetary analyst, has been sentenced to 5 years in jail. (FBI)
McDonald, who ceaselessly appeared as a visitor on CNBC as a monetary analyst, was arrested in June 2024 at his Florida residence after spending years on the run and extradited again to California, the place he was the CEO and chief funding officer of Los Angeles-based Hercules Investments LLC, and Index Technique Advisors Inc.
Previous to fleeing, McDonald additionally appeared to have terminated his earlier cellphone and e-mail accounts and advised one individual that he deliberate to “vanish,” in line with courtroom paperwork.
In 2020, McDonald “misplaced tens of tens of millions of {dollars} of Hercules consumer cash after adopting a dangerous quick place that successfully guess in opposition to the well being of the USA economic system within the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election,” prosecutors mentioned.
He misrepresented how the funds can be used and did not disclose the “large losses” Hercules beforehand sustained.
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James McDonald allegedly took steps to vanish previous to occurring the run, authorities mentioned. (FBI)
“He misappropriated most of these funds in varied methods, together with spending $174,610 at a Porsche dealership and transferring $109,512 to the owner of a house McDonald was renting in Arcadia,” the Justice Division mentioned.
In whole, McDonald misplaced round $3 million of his shoppers’ cash, prosecutors mentioned.
Along with his different firm, McDonald allegedly despatched shoppers “false account statements, together with for one consumer who invested roughly $351,000, later wanted the cash to make a down cost on a house, was knowledgeable by McDonald that a lot of the cash had been misplaced, and by no means received his full funding again.”
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In whole, the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee mentioned McDonald “raised greater than $5.1 million from 23 buyers and shoppers, and misappropriated greater than $2.9 million of these funds for private bills and Ponzi-like funds to earlier buyers.”
A federal arrest warrant was issued for McDonald in 2022 after he was charged with securities fraud.
Fox Information Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
