Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell today sentenced Andres Fernandez (38, Orlando) to 10 years in federal prison for wire fraud. As part of his sentence, the court also entered a money judgment of $14.98 million, representing the losses suffered by the victims of Fernandez’s fraud scheme. Fernandez had pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud on August 6, 2019.
According to court documents, Fernandez orchestrated an investment scheme that defrauded at least 81 victims out of millions of dollars. Fernandez solicited individuals to invest in concert events that he claimed were being produced by his companies – Kadaae Entertainment Corporation and Kadaae LLC. He told his victims that their investment would be used to fund specific concert events for artists including Julio Iglesias, Pitbull, Nicky Jam, Garth Brooks, Ana Gabriel, and Drake, and promised a return of up to 100 percent on the investments. As part of the scheme, Fernandez used fake contracts and other false documents to convince victims that he and his companies were under contract to produce the events. In fact, neither Fernandez nor his companies were involved in most of the events he had solicited to his victims.
Fernandez used the funds sent by investors for his own personal use and to pay fraudulent investment returns to earlier investors.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Chauncey A. Bratt.
