Tampa karaoke DJ gets pinched for fraudulent crab-fishing business

Robert Humphrey Jr. of Tampa has been found guilty of a fraudulent investment scheme that scammed nine people, most of whom were elderly, out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, netting him a sentence of 10 years of probation.

According to a news release from Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, Humphrey, while working as a karaoke DJ at various bars in the Tampa Bay area, solicited investments in a fictitious crab fishing business called High Cotton Bahamas, promising 10% returns and that investors’ money would be secured by real estate in the Bahamas. OFR’s investigation found Humphrey issued more than $800,000 of High Cotton Bahamas securities to his victims but neither he nor High Cotton Bahamas owned the Bahamian property.