Jesse T. Hill, a 35-year-old resident of Hickman, Nebraska, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods following Hill’s appearance before United States Magistrate Judge Jacqueline M. DeLuca. Hill’s sentencing is set for September 11, 2025, at 3 p.m., presided over by United States District Court Judge Susan M. Bazis.
Hill faces a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison, a fine reaching $1 million, and a mandatory special assessment of $100. He has also agreed to pay restitution and relinquish any interest in certain assets including property in Puerto Rico, a PC-12/47E Pilatus Aircraft, and funds held in a Charles Schwab account.
The case involves Individual 1 who operated a real estate business in Nebraska until their death on November 2, 2022. Hill worked as an investment advisor and established JT Equity Trading, LLC in 2013 which functioned as a hedge fund until its closure in 2018. Subsequently, he founded First SOJO Capital Group, LLC (“First SOJO”) in 2019 which managed two pooled investment vehicles: Outlier Fund I, LP and Outlier Fund II, LP.
Between November 2020 and April 2022, Hill collaborated with Individual 1 to secure loans from financial institutions across Nebraska and western Iowa under false pretenses using Individual 1’s name or entities. These loans were purportedly for real estate investments with collateral being an investment account managed by Hill himself.
Hill misrepresented the status of these accounts to financial institutions through fraudulent documents from JT Equity or Piedmont Fund Services—despite Piedmont never having provided services to Individual 1 or their entities—and falsely claimed that no other institution had security interests in these accounts.
The scheme aimed at securing approximately $45.65 million from at least nineteen different financial institutions resulted primarily in failed investments while some proceeds were used for paying off earlier fraudulent loans or acquiring personal assets such as the aforementioned property and aircraft.
Investigations into this case were conducted by multiple federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General (FHFA-OIG), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System – Office of Inspector General with additional support from local law enforcement agencies like Nebraska State Patrol among others.
