A man who fabricated a presidential pardon from then President Donald Trump to avoid charges in a federal fraud scheme was sentenced Monday to more than 17 years behind bars in connection with a related murder-for-hire plot.
The stern sentence was handed out to Alexander Leszczynski, 25, in Florida federal court Monday, and comes on top of an identical 17.5 year sentence he was handed out last month, for wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.
Both sentences must be served consecutively, meaning Leszczynski, of Pinellas County, will spend the next 35 years behind bars.
Initially accused of using fictitious charities to secure two Payroll Protection Plan loans totaling about $196,000 during the pandemic, Leszczynski was also involved in a scheme in which he tried to deed himself properties around the country.
He eventually amassed a collection valued at more than $300 million, which included the multimillion dollar home of a married couple in Florida who became aware of the scheme through property tax information in August 2021, feds said.
The stern sentence was handed out to Alexander Leszczynski, 25, in Florida federal court Monday, and comes on top of an identical 17.5 year sentence he was handed out last month, for wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors revealed in a news release upon his arrest: ‘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’
Leszczynski went on to harass and intimidate the couple, the sentencing memo filed by the government this week said – leading him to enlist an undercover agent he thought was a hitman to kill the couple for $30,000.
Needless to say, the proposition led to his arrest – his second in a matter of months after being charged with ‘deed fraud’ in April 2022 in relation to his efforts to steal the couple’s home.
When the real owners tried to correct the fraudulent deed, Leszczynski ‘responded by sending harassing and threatening letters, emails, and faxes,’ a news release announcing his latest sentence states.
It further details how while he was being held Pinellas County Jail in 2022 while in relation to the fraud case, the unnamed couple received a letter from an incarcerated inmate at the facility revealing that Leszczynski offered him $45,000 to ‘help him hurt’ them.
Citing a mass of court documents filed along the way, The United States Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida said: ‘In October 2020, Leszczynski, using the name of a fake charity, filed a fraudulent warranty deed for a transfer of a property in Redington Shores, Florida.
‘When the owners of that residence, Victim 1 and Victim 2, sued Leszczynski to correct the deed,’ prosecutors continued, Leszczynski sent a series of harassing letters, emails, and faxes to the victims and the lawyer representing them.’
They then wrote how in April 2022, Leszczynski was hit with the deed fraud charge related to the property, along with a series of other deceits including a scheme that saw the con try to deposit $2.7million in worthless checks into a fake business account.
That, along with multiple counts of money laundering, saw the then-suspect arraigned on May 17, 2022, prosecutors explained, and ordered detained.
Then, in August 2022, ‘the FBI became aware that while incarcerated at the Pinellas County Jail, Leszczynski sought out a hitman to kill Victim 1 and Victim 2’ in conversations with his fellow inmate, who went on to become a confidential informant for the government.
Leszczynski then reported to then informant that he had $45,000 hidden at his residence, available to pay someone to kill the victims, the statement said.
The inmate then wrote to the Assistant U.S. District Attorney of Leszcynski’s plan, which included him still assuming the victims’ property, and that his then pending fraud case would be dropped after the victims’ deaths.
The confidential informant then ‘agreed to put Leszczynski in contact with a purported hitman,’ feds in the Sunshine State said – before revealing the supposed contract killer was actually an undercover agent.
Less than a month later, Leszczynski had a series of calls with the undercover, sharing details such as the victims’ names and addresses, along with descriptions, approximate ages, and additional details that would allow the ‘hitman’ to find photographs of the couple online.
The jailhouse phone calls, taking place on September 8 and 9 of last year, also saw the fraudster negotiate the rate for the job down to $30,000, while repeatedly requesting that both victims end up dead.
That culminated to a fresh set of charges that Leszczynski pleaded guilty to just two months later in November 2022, leading to the 17.5 year sentence handed out on Monday.
During that court appearance, Leszczynski also pleaded guilty to initial case, which was brought before the convict about a year-and-a-half before in April 2022, after which feds seized $337,000 from one of Leszczynski’s several phony bank accounts.
Prosecutors revealed in a news release upon his arrest: ‘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.’
Not taking the bait, feds went through with the sprawling fraud case, charging Leszczynski with wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering for using fake charities to get two his pandemic-era loans, which were worth nearly $200,000.
Despite the extent of his crimes Leszczynski has had a ‘total lack of remorse’ in the case and ‘demonstrates his continued dangerousness to the couple and the public’, prosecutors maintained in Monday’s sentencing memo.
Leszczynski’s attorney Dane Chase, however, had a different take about his client’s crimes Tuesday, claiming the sentences were too harsh given the con’s age at the time of his crimes.
“The sentences imposed upon Mr. Leszczynski reflect an utter disregard for the mitigating factors of youth,’ he said of the sentences in an emailed statement to USA Today.
‘Mr. Leszczynski was in his early twenties at the time of his charged offenses. Science has proven that the human brain continues to develop until approximately the age of 25,’ he added.
‘[The] sentences do not adequately account for this fact,’ he declared, adding that he and the fraudster both ‘look forward to litigating this issue and others on appeal.’