Semisub co-founder charged with fraud is released pretrial

Curtiss Jackson, the co-founder of the Semisub tour boat company criminally charged with federal securities fraud, will not be detained before his trial.

Hawaii District Court Judge Rom Trader denied federal prosecutors’ motion to detain Jackson on Wednesday. “He does present risks,” Trader said. “The real question is, are these conditions adequate to manage that risk?” Trader released Jackson on $50,000 bond, requiring that he not leave Oahu, contact anyone involved in his case, use drugs, or leave his house beyond curfew hours, among other conditions.

The Justice Department charged Jackson, 69, and his wife, Jamey Denise Jackson, 59, on Oct. 20 with securities fraud, conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud, each carrying a maximum 20-year prison sentence. The Jacksons allegedly embezzled, for more than a dec­ade, a significant part of $28 million raised from investors for developing a prototype of their boat with underwater windows.

The federal government argued that Jackson should be detained before trial because he was an economic risk to the community and a possible risk to his wife, could intimidate witnesses, and might flee.

“Why the government feels that Mr. Jackson is such an economic danger to the community is because he carried out this scheme in the face of inquiries and orders from several different government regulators,” said Blake Goebel, a federal prosecutor, at a detention hearing Wednesday.

The state securities commissions in California and Pennsylvania had both entered cease-and-desist orders against Curtiss Jackson to prevent him from soliciting investors in those states to buy stock in his company, Goebel said. “Even in the face of those orders, he did so anyways,” he said.

Goebel pointed to what he considered threatening behavior from Curtiss Jackson, saying the defendant had sent his wife a link to a video compilation from the TV show “The Sopranos” of scenes in which mobsters murder informants who spoke with the FBI or government. “We have a real concern about the safety of Mrs. Jackson for one, but also Mr. Jackson’s inclination to intimidate other witnesses in this case,” Goebel said.

Curtiss Jackson’s lawyer, Harlan Kimura, said Jackson should be released and posed no threat economically to the community “because he would be prohibited from selling securities.” As for Jackson’s relationship with his wife, Kimura said the couple has filed for divorce, and his communications “were in poor taste, but not any kind of real threat of violence.”

The judge remarked that Jackson’s record is “not good, and it definitely shows, in terms of character component, Mr. Jackson has had some problems in that area.”

After Trader listed the pretrial release conditions, Jackson replied, “I definitely will abide by every single one of them. I’m not going anywhere.”

Trader emphasized that Jackson must follow the requirements to “avoid any problems.” “It’s reported in the pretrial services report that you use marijuana on a regular basis,” Trader said. “That ends.”