Former would-be State School property developer Robynne Alexander sentenced to prison

Robynne Alexander, a onetime prospective buyer of the former State School property on Parade Road in Laconia, was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Oct. 15, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Alexander, 63, of Manchester, was found guilty of operating a fraudulent real estate investment scheme, which defrauded investors out of more than $3 million, U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan said, according to a media release. U.S. District Court Judge Samatha D. Elliott sentenced Alexander to 30 months in prison, and three years of supervised release, and ordered Alexander to pay $2.873 million in restitution. She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on July 16.

“Robynne Alexander exploited the trust of her clients and stole millions of dollars to fund her own lifestyle and conceal her fraud,” Creegan wrote. “Financial crimes like this devastate victims and undermine confidence in legitimate investment opportunities. This sentence holds her accountable for her deception and demonstrates our commitment to protecting the public from those who abuse positions of trust for personal gain.”

Beginning in 2018, Alexander, who previously worked as a real estate investment coach, began raising funds from her coaching clients for a real estate venture, Raxx-LeMay, LLC. Though she apparently promised to acquire and renovate two commercial properties in Manchester, she raised only $700,000 of the $2 million required by the May 2018 deadline.

Despite the lack of adequate fundraising, she completed the purchase in July 2018, using hard-money loans and improperly diverted investor funds — which were initially intended to be held until the $2 million threshold was met — to other entities she controlled, to repay outside investors and fund additional projects. 

“Robynne Alexander actively led clients to believe they were investing responsibly, when in reality she pocketed their money to pay off her personal debts and legal bills from other investors,” Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, wrote. “As her lies continued and the losses mounted, she engaged in a cover-up, trying to conceal the staggering fraud. Schemes like this can be simply devastating for victim investors. That’s why the FBI is committed to bringing financial fraud to light and perpetrators like Ms. Alexander to justice. We’d like to thank the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation for their partnership on this case.”

Over subsequent years, Alexander used investor capital across multiple projects without proper authority or disclosure. She transferred the Raxx-LeMay properties to a new entity she controlled in early 2022, despite not having obtained investor approval, leaving Raxx-LeMay with no assets and investors with losses of about $850,000. In a separate project, Elm and Baker, LLC, Alexander apparently solicited $750,000 to convert a property in Manchester to apartments, but diverted more than half of those funds to repay unrelated investors and personal loans, resulting in foreclosure in 2023. 

In late 2022, Alexander solicited funds for a large-scale resort project in Laconia, receiving $250,000 toward the purchase before misappropriating at least $75,000, and, ultimately, failing to close the sale. The project dissolved, and the state is now in the due diligence stages of a purchase-and-sales agreement with Pillsbury Realty Development for the former State School property.

Across at least eight ventures, Alexander defrauded at least 24 investors of more than $3 million. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation provided assistance. Assistant U.S Attorney John J. Kennedy prosecuted the case.