DNYUZ
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Television
    • Theater
    • Gaming
    • Sports
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
DNYUZ
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Former CNBC analyst James Arthur McDonald Jr., who betrayed investors, sentenced in multimillion-dollar fraud scheme

August 5, 2025
in News
Former CNBC analyst James Arthur McDonald Jr., who betrayed investors, sentenced in multimillion-dollar fraud scheme
494
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A former television financial analyst accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars and spending years on the run was sentenced to five years in prison, the Justice Department said Monday. 

James Arthur McDonald Jr., 53, is also expected to be ordered to pay restitution to his victims following his April 7 guilty plea for securities fraud.

“To his victims, [McDonald] seemed to embody the American Dream,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “But looks can be deceiving, and as [McDonald’s] victims learned, their trust had been betrayed.”

McDonald, who frequently appeared as a guest on CNBC as a financial analyst, was arrested in June 2024 at his Florida home after spending years on the run and extradited back to California, where he was the CEO and chief investment officer of Los Angeles-based Hercules Investments LLC, and Index Strategy Advisors Inc.

James McDonald, Hercules Investments CEO, in a CNBC interview.
James Arthur McDonald Jr. is expected to be ordered to pay restitution to his victims following his April 7 guilty plea for securities fraud. CNBC

Prior to fleeing, McDonald also appeared to have terminated his previous phone and email accounts and told one person that he planned to “vanish,” according to court documents.

In 2020, McDonald “lost tens of millions of dollars of Hercules client money after adopting a risky short position that effectively bet against the health of the United States economy in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election,” prosecutors said. 

He misrepresented how the funds would be used and failed to disclose the “massive losses” Hercules previously sustained.

FBI Wanted poster for James Arthur McDonald Jr., captured, for securities fraud.
Prior to fleeing, McDonald terminated his previous phone and email accounts and told one person that he planned to “vanish”. FBI

“He misappropriated most of those funds in various ways, including spending $174,610 at a Porsche dealership and transferring $109,512 to the landlord of a home McDonald was renting in Arcadia,” the Justice Department said. 

In total, McDonald lost around $3 million of his clients’ money, prosecutors said. 

With his other company, McDonald allegedly sent clients “false account statements, including for one client who invested approximately $351,000, later needed the money to make a down payment on a home, was informed by McDonald that much of the money had been lost, and never got his full investment back.”

James Arthur McDonald Jr., former CNBC analyst, sentenced in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.
In total, McDonald lost around $3 million of his clients’ money, prosecutors said. Hercules Investments

In total, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said McDonald “raised more than $5.1 million from 23 investors and clients, and misappropriated more than $2.9 million of those funds for personal expenses and Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors.” 

A federal arrest warrant was issued for McDonald in 2022 after he was charged with securities fraud.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.

The post Former CNBC analyst James Arthur McDonald Jr., who betrayed investors, sentenced in multimillion-dollar fraud scheme appeared first on New York Post.

Tags: CNBCfinanceFraudinvestorsJustice DepartmentPrisonssentencing
Share198Tweet124Share
Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift make first public appearance as newly engaged couple at Cincinnati-Nebraska game
News

Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift make first public appearance as newly engaged couple at Cincinnati-Nebraska game

by Fox News
August 29, 2025

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift were pictured publicly for the first time ...

Read more
News

He Paved the Way for CNN, Fox News and the Internet. He’s Not Sure We’re Better Off.

August 29, 2025
News

Israel Resumes Daytime Operations in Gaza City, Signaling Buildup to Assault

August 29, 2025
News

Trump revokes Secret Service protection for former VP Harris, AP sources say

August 29, 2025
News

Justice Department pushes for access to voter records. Orange County pushes back

August 29, 2025
The Music of Millennial Idealism

The Music of Millennial Idealism

August 29, 2025
Weapons to Start Flowing to Ukraine Under European Deal With Trump

Weapons to Start Flowing to Ukraine Under European Deal With Trump

August 29, 2025
‘It’s happening everywhere’: 1 in 3 ICE detainees held in overcrowded facilities, data show

‘It’s happening everywhere’: 1 in 3 ICE detainees held in overcrowded facilities, data show

August 29, 2025

Copyright © 2025.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Gaming
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Sports
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel

Copyright © 2025.