Vegas Online Sweepstakes Fraudster Claims Heiress Illegally Sold Shares
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Posted on: October 4, 2021, 01:47h.
Last updated on: October 4, 2021, 02:04h.
A Las Vegas online sweepstakes operator faces up to 40 years in prison for allegedly stealing more than a million dollars from investors. But first, he’s trying to take one of his victims, a wealthy heiress, down with him.
Robert Alexander, 51, made $30 million by selling his video games promotion company to Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Grand Theft Auto creator Rockstar Games. But according to The New York Post, he blew his fortune in strip clubs and at craps tables.
His next venture was Kizzang, which offered sweepstakes-based online gaming through slots tournaments, fantasy sports, and scratch cards. According to federal prosecutors, Alexander resumed his excessive lifestyle, but this time, the money wasn’t his to squander.
Wall Street Royalty
Prosecutors say Alexander stole “at least” $1.3 million from investors in Kizzang and used it as is own personal piggy bank. He spent more than $450,000 at the gaming tables of Las Vegas. Another $579,000 went toward paying off his credit cards.
One of those investors was Sherry Pryor Witter, a Wall Street heavyweight who is married to Michael D.Witter. He’s the grandson of Dean Witter, who started the legendary brokerage firm Dean Witter Reynolds, which merged with Morgan Stanley in the 1990s.
Pryor Witter was the first investor in Kizzang to smell a rat. She called the FBI, but allegedly not before she sold her shares, which Alexander’s lawyer claims she knew were worthless.
If the allegations of Sherry Pryor Witter against the defendants are to be substantiated then she is a fugitive from justice for the resale of the worthless paper she sold after her criminal allegations against the defendants,” Alexander’s lawyers claimed in court papers filed in the US Southern District of New York and with the SEC.
Alexander has pleaded guilty in January 2020 to one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud, but has repeatedly and successfully filed to have sentencing delayed, citing health reasons. It appears that he’s hoping to buy leniency by throwing Pryor Witter under a bus.
Wild Claims
Alexander also hoped he could monetize Kizzang’s consumer traffic through advertising and sponsorship. But according to prosecutors, the venture “never had any meaningful source of revenue” from its 2017 inception to its insolvency.
They allege he made wild claims to investors about tenfold returns, and said he had created a new hit video game. He told one investor he had made a charitable donation of $50 million to a prominent Los Angeles hospital to cultivate an image of personal wealth.
In fact, he was almost broke.
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