By Sarah Liversidge For Daily Mail Australia
07:23 29 Apr 2023, updated 07:25 29 Apr 2023
- Alex Mendieta Blanco re-emerges as charity head
- He was jailed over selling stolen jewellery
A playboy gold dealer jailed for buying stolen jewellery has attempted to reinvent himself as a kind-hearted philanthropist.
Columbian-born Alejandro ‘Alex’ Mendieta Blanco was sent to prison in 2020 for four years after pleading guilty to purchasing stolen goods worth $29,000 at his CBD company, Gold Buyers Melbourne.
Blanco, 37, enjoyed first-class flights, parties with Australian celebrities, and displays of lavish wealth while running the unlawful gold-buying operation.
He also owned luxury boats and used the hashtag ‘PoorGuysSuck’ while showing off his overseas jaunts.
But Blanco, who now is understood to be based in Spain, has re-emerged online depicting himself as the head of a generous charity organisation.
On his philanthropic website, Blanco describes himself as a ‘lifelong entrepreneur who is passionate about using his fortune to help people all over the world’, the Herald Sun reported.
Blanco – who during the height of his wealth hired Delta Goodrem for his 30th birthday – has also has ditched his surname, now calling himself Alex Mendieta.
‘As a self-made businessman who built his fortune from the ground up, Alex Mendieta intimately understands that not everyone can be so fortunate,’ the website reads.
‘Therefore, Alex has always been committed to helping marginalised, and disadvantaged communities tackle immediate problems and create a lasting positive impact through his philanthropy.’
Donations from Blanco have reportedly been made to various charities, although not all these organisations are disclosed.
One image on his site depicts recipients of new bicycles smiling while standing behind a sign that reads ‘Thank you Mr Alex of GoldBuyers Melbourne’ – the same company that used the illegal gains to resell gold.
Blanco reportedly donated all proceeds from public speaking engagements between 2013 and 2016 to Clown Doctors, an Australian charity that provides entertainment and therapy for sick children in hospitals.
Under the ‘Give a child a bike’ initiative, Blanco has reportedly donated bicycles to underprivileged children in Vietnam.
It is not clear how much money he has donated to other charities.
Gold Buyers Australia came under investigation by detectives tracing the proceeds of a spate of armed robberies on jewellery stores and homes in 2017.
The jewellery – much of it reported to be of enormous sentimental value – was melted down and sold again.
He was originally charged with 450 counts of buying watches, rings, bracelets and other gold jewellery he knew was stolen between late August and early October 2017.
In six years Alejandro, his brother Julio, and employee Chey Tenenboim transformed their business into a multimillion-dollar empire that turned over $66million in the 2015-16 financial year, according to records obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Tenenboim was in 2020 sentenced to 12 months prison followed by a two year community corrections order, while Julio was sentenced to four months in jail, with a two year community correction order, including 200 hours of unpaid work.
Blanco moved to Australia alone at age 16, where he became a self-made millionaire.
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