Joshua Wander, the co-founder and former CEO of the Miami investment firm 777 Partners, pleaded guilty on October 15, 2026, in Manhattan federal court to wire fraud and securities fraud. He admitted his role in a multi-year scheme that prosecutors say defrauded the firm’s lenders and investors of more than $500 million. Wander, 45, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge J.
Paul Oetken, days before a scheduled trial. As part of the agreement, he agreed to forfeit at least $500 million in proceeds from the scheme. He is scheduled for sentencing on March 1, 2027. Each count carries a maximum of 20 years in prison; any sentence will be set by the judge.
In court, Wander acknowledged that in 2021 and 2022 he borrowed money based on reports that overstated collateral. “At the time that I did these things I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I am deeply sorry for my conduct,” he told the judge, according to the Associated Press. U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said Wander “used his company, 777 Partners, to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from private creditors and investors.
Wander double-pledged assets, pledged fictitious assets, lied about the financial condition of his company, and even falsified bank statements, all to gain access to his victims’ funds.” Prosecutors said some of those funds went to purposes lenders had not approved, including spending on the firm’s professional soccer teams. How 777 Partners Operated 777 Partners was a private investment firm founded in 2015 and based in Miami.
Its core early business was underwriting and financing structured settlements—arrangements in which people who win legal settlements receive periodic payments rather than a lump sum. The firm later expanded into other areas, including airlines and professional sports. Prosecutors said the firm did not have enough of its own capital for these expansions. Instead, Wander directed the use of restricted funds from lenders tied to the structured-settlement business to cover acquisitions and expenses.
To keep access to that money, he caused the firm to pledge as collateral hundreds of millions of dollars in structured-settlement assets that 777 Partners either had never bought or had already pledged to other lenders. Employees were directed to digitally alter bank statements so they showed millions of dollars in cash the firm did not have. In 2021 and 2022 the firm also raised more than $200 million from outside investors by selling preferred equity interests in 777 Partners and an affiliated entity.
Wander misrepresented the firm’s financial condition while soliciting those investments. In March 2022 he solicited a $20 million loan and provided the lender with dozens of doctored bank statements. Prosecutors said this concealed that he had spent millions of the funds on options trades. By March 2023 the scheme began to come apart.
A lender confronted Wander about double-pledged assets. He first claimed an error from an outdated computer system, then said the double-pledging had been inadvertent. Wander resigned as CEO in 2024. Expansion Into Soccer and Aviation The firm used funds obtained in the scheme, according to prosecutors, for investments that included professional soccer clubs and aircraft.
777 Partners took stakes in several European and South American clubs, including majority or controlling interests in Genoa in Italy, Standard Liege in Belgium, and Vasco da Gama in Brazil, plus a significant stake in Hertha Berlin in Germany. It also held a minority interest in Sevilla and invested in other clubs. Its highest-profile soccer effort was an agreement in September 2023 to acquire a controlling stake in Everton FC of the English Premier League from Farhad Moshiri.
The deal, reported at the time as potentially worth more than £500 million, never closed. 777 Partners provided substantial loans to the club but failed to meet Premier League conditions, including resolving certain debts. The exclusivity period expired in 2024 and the purchase collapsed amid growing questions about the firm’s finances. In aviation, 777 Partners backed Australian low-cost airline Bonza, which began passenger flights in early 2023.
The airline ceased operations in April 2024 after its aircraft were repossessed. It entered administration and was later liquidated. Reporting at the time linked the collapse to funding shortfalls from 777 Partners; Australian authorities did not pursue action against Bonza’s local directors. The firm also had ties to Canadian carrier Flair Airlines and ordered Boeing 737 aircraft.
Nothing in the criminal case establishes that the soccer clubs, Bonza, or their other employees or stakeholders participated in the fraud. The guilty plea and admissions concern Wander’s conduct toward 777 Partners’ lenders and investors. The Plea, Forfeiture, and What Comes Next Wander pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. The original indictment was returned in October 2025; a superseding indictment later added charges.
The plea came after a change-of-plea hearing was scheduled the day before the planned trial date. The agreed forfeiture of at least $500 million is a criminal forfeiture of proceeds of the offenses. It is distinct from restitution, which is an order that a defendant pay victims for their losses and is typically addressed at or after sentencing. Neither the forfeiture agreement nor any other public filing indicates that the full $500 million has already been recovered or distributed to victims.
Actual recovery depends on the assets the government can identify and seize and on the outcome of related civil proceedings, including a parallel Securities and Exchange Commission case. A Fatico hearing, used to resolve disputed facts relevant to sentencing, is scheduled for November 2, 2026. Sentencing is set for March 1, 2027. Wander remains free on bail in the interim.
The maximum statutory penalties are 20 years on each count, but the judge is not required to impose consecutive sentences or the maximum. Sentencing guidelines calculations in the case have been reported as high as 480 months, though judges frequently impose sentences below the guideline range. The investigation involved the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the SEC.
Other individuals associated with 777 Partners have faced civil charges from the SEC related to the preferred-equity offering; those matters are separate from Wander’s criminal plea. What remains unresolved is how much money will ultimately be returned to lenders, investors, and other creditors, and what financial impact the firm’s collapse will continue to have on the businesses and clubs that relied on its funding. Those questions will be addressed in the sentencing process, forfeiture proceedings, and any related civil or bankruptcy actions.
