Ex- promoter facing federal fraud trial

After a long career as a pilot for TWA, Jack Utsick chased his dream to be a concert promoter. And for a decade or so, he seemed to be on top of the world, running both his business and life out of the Portofino condo tower overlooking Miami Beach.

He organized tours for Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, Elton John and the Rolling Stones, to name a few, in the United States and Europe.

But by 2006, huge debts started piling up — millions of dollars that he owed to former colleagues in the airline industry who had invested in his business, Worldwide Entertainment.

In early February, the 73-year-old Utsick will face trial on fraud charges. He is accused of diverting millions from thousands of his investors in what authorities have described as a Ponzi scheme to pay for collector cars, a luxury condo, artwork and other personal expenses between 1996 and 2006. The Utsick case ranks among the largest financial schemes in South Florida, authorities say.

But in the eyes of Utsick’s daughter and attorneys, the one-time global concert promoter has been miscast by overzealous prosecutors and the FBI. His supporters say he always put his investors first and had no intention of fleecing them, as prosecutors contend.

“My father started this business from nothing,” Utsick’s daughter, Tanya Kugel, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, said on Friday. “He had always dreamed of being a promoter and he succeeded. All he really cared about was making his investors money, and he was very frugal.”

The daughter said Utsick has been battling a litany of physical and mental health ailments since he was arrested in Brazil in 2013 and extradited to Miami in late 2014 on federal charges. Kugel said that her father, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and diabetes long ago, has