Lawrence Eric Leins received a nearly five-year prison sentence for bilking $1.9 million from investors in a fraudulent scheme to sell apartments

On Thursday, Leins stood before a federal judge in Jacksonville and received a nearly five-year prison sentence for bilking $1.9 million from investors in a fraudulent scheme to sell apartments in the Czech Republic, many of which were historic buildings owned by the city of Prague.Lawrence Eric Leins was a high-flying executive with the Orlando Predators, a recipient of one of the Arena Football League's top honors in 1992.Among those who lost money: Orlando Circuit Judge Robert LeBlanc and Leins' own mother. Prosecutors said Leins used their money to finance a lavish lifestyle, including a $1.2 million home in The Plantation at Ponte Vedra, a 32-foot powerboat and two luxury vehicles.All were purchased after Leins filed for bankruptcy in 2006."This is someone who, whatever way you cut it, stole other people's money to buy stuff," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tysen Duva said.
Still unresolved is a legal dispute between one of Leins' victims and the U.S. Attorney's Office over the Ponte Vedra Beach home. The victim, New York investor Chaim Gross, says the house should be his because paperwork shows Leins used his investment directly to purchase the property. Federal prosecutors contend the government should sell the house and split the proceeds proportionately among investors, Duva said.Leins, 52, was indicted in March on 10 counts related to his Czech Republic Property Fund. He represented in glitzy company literature that the fund owned residential apartments in Prague, where investors could purchase units of ownership in the fund for $50,000. He told them they could expect an 11 percent return on their investments.Court documents indicate Leins didn't own the properties. A Czech lawyer told the FBI that Leins wasn't even licensed to do business there.Leins pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to 57 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Henry Adams ordered him to pay $1.9 million in restitution, much of which will likely come from property he ordered seized from Leins.Leins apologized to the investors, especially his mother - who prosecutors said invested $25,000 along with several of her friends. She told Adams she supported her son despite the fraud."I believed sincerely that this was a solid business plan," Phyllis Wirtz said. "My life has certainly been affected, but ... I need his love and I know he needs mine."She has filed a claim with the government for $15,000 she lent her son to buy his Mercedes.Leins was director of operations for the Predators when the Arena Football League started in 1991 and was awarded the league's executive of the year in 1992.