Former Manitowoc Financial Adviser Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison

James Nickels, the former Financial Adviser with The Fiscal Concierge who used a Ponzi scheme to scam dozens of investors out of millions of dollars, will be spending seven years in a federal prison. Nickels, who is the uncle of Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels, was in U.S. District Court yesterday, where he was also sentenced to three years of supervised release after his prison sentence is completed, and he must pay $3 million in restitution. Judge William Griesbach slammed Nickels in his closing statement, saying “I don’t think this was a good idea gone wrong. This was a scam. This was a horrible crime against friends and family.” The latter part of that statement is in reference to the fact that Nickels own mother was caught up in the scheme. Nickels ended up collecting over $5 million during the life of the scheme, while his investors lost around $3.19 million.