#

Robynne Alexander, the real estate developer who offered the state a too-good-to-be-true $21.5 million for the Laconia State School property, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal count of wire fraud in the United States District Court in Concord.

Alexander’s business model of offering eye-popping returns to her investors, as much as 80 percent, was actually part of a scheme to stay ahead of her creditors as her real estate empire crumbled, according to court records.

Alexander now faces up to 20 years in prison when she is sentenced at a later date. She’s already agreed to pay more than $3 million in restitution to her dozens of victims. Many of them gave Alexander their entire retirement savings, thinking she would help them make their fortunes.

Alexander presented herself as a California real estate success story when she moved to New England and taught classes as Real Estate Investor Goddess. Alexander showed people how to make big money on large-scale developments, such as apartment complexes, resorts, and even entire village complexes. In reality, she was a small-time player who flipped a few houses before she started teaching.

But someone did learn something in her classes; Alexander learned which of her students to rope in as investors for her various real estate schemes. She launched several different LLCs starting in 2018 using money from her former students, according to court records.

Under her Raxx‑LeMay, LLC., Alexander got investors to back the purchase and redevelopment of two commercial properties in Manchester. But even with her students, Alexander could only come up with $700,000 of the necessary $2 million for the purchase. Instead of giving the money back with interest to her investors, as was the agreement, Alexander bought the properties with investor money from other projects and high-interest loans. In a classic Ponzi-scheme move, Alexander paid returns to some Raxx-LeMay investors with the investor money from other LLCs she controlled.

After that, things took off for Alexander—but not for her investors. She transferred the Raxx-LeMay properties to another LLC, leaving that business and its investors $850,000 in debt and with no assets.

Alexander’s Elm and Baker, LLC., netted $750,000 in investor money to convert a Manchester property into apartments. Instead, Alexander used more than half that money to repay other, unrelated investors and her own personal loans, ultimately leading to foreclosure on the Elm and Baker property in 2023. 

Her biggest dream, the $21.5 million Laconia State School development, would have been a resort village with retail. It was the winning bid for the property. But for some reason, Alexander couldn’t close the deal. 

Alexander’s winning bid garnered negative attention as people close to the deal began asking questions about her financing. At the same time, one of her failed Manchester developments turned into a lawsuit. Former Gov. Chris Sununu recently said the state gave Alexander multiple opportunities to come up with the money before finally moving on.

“And after three or four extensions, we’re like, ‘Okay, enough is enough.’ And we pulled the plug, rightly so,” Sununu said.

Behind the scenes, Alexander struggled to raise $250,000 from investors for the $21.5 million purchase. At that point, she used $75,000 of that money on herself, including a month-long trip to Paris, Barcelona, Valencia, Nassau, Florida, and New Orleans.

Soon after the Laconia State School deal fell apart, Alexander was under investigation by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation. As part of an agreement with New Hampshire authorities, Alexander will repay $96,000 to New Hampshire victims. She also agreed to give up any licensing to sell securities anywhere, and agreed not to be head of any company anywhere ever again.

Sununu gives credit to then-Executive Councilor Ted Gatsas (R-District 4) for protecting the state from getting more deeply involved with Alexander during the Laconia property process.

“Gatsas was one of the councilors who said, ‘We could have a problem here,” Sununu said during a recent radio appearance.

As the Alexander deal dragged out, “Ted was just really smart in terms of what we were potentially walking into, and putting up red flags for us. He really drove the message to get the state to pivot. And it was clearly the right thing to do.”

Robynne Alexander was known as a “Real Estate Investor Goddess,” who taught others how to make fortunes investing in property.

But the woman behind the failed $21.5 million bid for the Laconia State School property is now set to plead guilty in a federal fraud case after she allegedly stole millions from her former students, according to the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation.

“Many individuals put their entire retirement savings into the hands of Alexander, who abused their trust and enticed them with returns that she could not deliver,” said Michael Gallagher, Bureau staff attorney.

After investigations by the Bureau of Securities Regulation and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Alexander agreed to pay more than $3 million in restitution to her victims, in addition to the criminal charges filed in federal court. 

According to the Bureau’s consent order with Alexander, she took money from 30 people, many of whom she met through her investing classes. She touted her experience developing large projects like apartment complexes and retail developments without telling her investors that her short history in real estate mostly consisted of flipping houses.

Alexander created several LLCs for various projects and used investor money for some start-up costs, as well as high-interest loans from “nontraditional” lenders for the rest. She never told her investors about the loans, according to the consent order. She also didn’t tell them about using their money for her own personal expenses, fictitious payments to investors she liked, or a month-long vacation to Paris, Barcelona, Valencia, Nassau, Florida, and New Orleans.

Some investors were enticed by too-good-to-be-true 80 percent projected returns on their money. Her projects ran into trouble, and Alexander began paying some investors with money from other investors, the classic hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.

After Gov. Chris Sununu pushed for a law in 2021 to let him manage the sale of the Laconia State School property, Alexander put herself and one of her companies forward with a $21.5 million bid to turn the 600 acre property into a new village that included housing, retail, entertainment, hiking trails, and more. 

Alexander’s winning bid began getting negative attention as people close to the deal started asking questions about her financing. Her $21.5 million bid was far higher than the other offers the state received.

Sununu, guest hosting for Jack Heath’s radio show, said Friday as news broke that former Executive Councilor Ted Gatsas (R-District 4) gets credit for raising arms about Alexander.

“You know, Gatsas was one of the ones on the council that said, ‘We could have a problem here.’ And, you know, he really understood the financing of some of the things with that organization,” Sununu said.

After at least four deadlines passed for Alexander to close the Laconia deal, Sununu and the councilors moved on.

“And after three or four extensions, we’re like, ‘Okay, enough is enough.’ And we pulled the plug, rightly so. But Ted was one of the ones who was just really smart in terms of what we were potentially walking into. And [he] put up the red flags for us, and really drove the message to get us to pivot, and it was clearly the right thing to do.”

The state is currently working with a new investment group that has an offer to buy the property for $10 million.

The Laconia State School bid came apart just as Alexander’s whole business model imploded. 

“Eventually, the high interest rates from nontraditional lenders, various lawsuits, and the promised returns to investors caught up with [Alexander], and her scheme collapsed,” the consent order states.

Alexander is paying $3 million to victims through the SEC enforcement actions, and another $96,000 to victims through the New Hampshire Bureau investigation. She also agreed to give up any licensing to sell securities anywhere, and not to be head of any company anywhere.

“This settlement shows that people will be held accountable when they mishandle and misuse investor funds for their own personal gain at the expense of hard-working individuals who are simply trying to meet their retirement goals,” Gallagher said.