More than 35 years in federal prison have been ordered for a Pinellas Beach man who, according to federal authorities, attempted to steal millions via multiple fraud schemes, produced a phoney pardon from former President Donald Trump, and attempted to hire a “hitman” to kill witnesses.
In April 2022, charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering were brought against 25-year-old Alexander Leszczynski of North Redington Beach.
The 17 and a half years that Alexander Leszczynski was sentenced to last month for fraud charges will be served consecutively with this term. Prosecutors claimed that Leszczynski applied for loans under the Payroll Protection Plan totaling approximately $1.3 million by using fictitious religious organisations.
Leszczynski “attempted to have it released by producing a fabricated pardon purportedly signed by former President Donald Trump,” according to the Department of Justice, after federal agents seized $337,000 from one of his accounts.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated in a news statement following his arrest that “when he discovered that the money had been frozen, he attempted to have it released by producing a fabricated pardon purportedly signed by former President Donald Trump.”
In April of the previous year, Leszczynski was accused with deed fraud. In the Pinellas County Jail, he attempted to hire a hitman to assassinate the property owners who had sued him. Leszczynski allegedly informed a confidential informant that he could hire a hitman with the $45,000 he had hidden away at home.
Leszczynski’s Love & Bliss Inc., according to a 2021 article, presented itself as a Christian nonprofit organisation that was attempting to take possession of two homes that had belonged to Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on allegations of sex trafficking. The newspaper’s article states that the assets were a ranch in New Mexico and Epstein’s now-demolished Palm Beach house.
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. sentenced him to 17 years and six months in prison after he entered a guilty plea to the murder-for-hire and obstruction charges in June.
The 17 years and six months he was sentenced to for the fraud counts will run concurrently with that sentence. In November of last year, he entered a guilty plea to the charges.
The whole sentence length, when cumulative, comes to somewhat over 35 years.
His shenanigans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, have persisted even after he entered guilty pleas.
Federal prosecutors stated in a news release on Monday that Leszczynski had “written numerous letters— intercepted by the United States— since he pleaded guilty in both cases, attempting to solicit and threaten others to come forward and fraudulently take responsibility for his crimes.”
