SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A Scottsdale man facing charges of swindling people into paying for a charity golf tournament police say never existed has pulled similar schemes in the past, according to court records.
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Robert Francis Alexander, 57, pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday to charges of fraudulent schemes after his arrest at the beginning of August.
Scottsdale investigators claim Alexander was going to Valley area golf courses for months, convincing people to buy into a fake golf tournament supposedly to help wounded veterans.
Police then say he would push other schemes on those victims that resulted in him receiving thousands of dollars. One woman 12 News spoke with said she paid Alexander $10,000 in cash.
"He's a professional," Lindsay Meisner says. "This is what he does."
She may be right.
According to several lawsuits and court records 12News obtained, Alexander has been accused of running schemes in Arizona for the past 20 years.
Records show he spent years in federal prison and was ordered to pay millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme.
One of the many documents 12News looked through says back in 1998, Alexander convinced several high-level investors to fund an import and export business he was running.
It goes on to say for five years, they gave Alexander more than $21 million. Alexander then provided them with falsified documents so it would appear the business was making money.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation became involved leading to Alexander getting charged with Wire Fraud in the Ponzi scheme. In 2006, he pleaded guilty, admitting to the allegations according to federal records. He was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay close to $10 million in restitution.
That wasn't the end of Alexander's schemes, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission. When he was released from prison, the Commission's Securities Division Director says he started another one.
"It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to continue doing it like that," Mark Dinell says. This time, Dinell claims Alexander was going to Valley golf courses and talking people into investing in a golf ball resale business he was supposedly running. “Mr. Alexander was basically defrauding friends and acquaintances,“ Dinell says. "Some of it he used to pay other investors back to keep them quiet. Most of it you use just to live on."
The Corporation Commission brought the case against Alexander and ordered him to pay $382,100 in restitution.
As of Wednesday, Alexander is still behind bars awaiting his next hearing.
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