Crime

DENVER (AP) ― An aspiring politician and convicted swindler has pulled off what may be his best scheme yet -- fleeing the country before he could face dozens of fraud counts involving his kosher hot dog company.

Arnold Zaler -- an aspiring politician described as uncannily charming -- had already served one prison term in Arizona on fraud convictions. Years later, Colorado authorities charged him with running similar schemes in Denver.

On March 11, Zaler was released on $25,000 unsecured bond after turning in his U.S. passport and temporary travel documents issued by Israel, where he has told people he has dual citizenship.

Thirteen days later, Zaler boarded a Jerusalem-bound flight in Atlanta, the FBI has since learned. The charming entrepreneur hasn't been seen in the U.S. since.

A businessman who goes by "Arnie," Zaler was a traveling salesman in Denver who quit his job in the early 1970s to work for then-Sen. Gary Hart. Five years later, at age 29, he ran for Denver City Council. He lost and moved to Arizona -- where authorities say his career as a con man began.

According to court records, news accounts and interviews reported by the Rocky Mountain News Saturday, Zaler has been swindling people for decades.

Living in Phoenix in the early 1980s, Zaler and his then-wife started a computer game company called Softie. The charming Zaler had little trouble finding investors. He also became active in Phoenix's Jewish Community and in Arizona politics, pushing a campaign for that state to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

But the Softie profits Zaler promised never materialized. Investors sued in 1994, and in 1996 Zaler was charged with more than 50 counts of fraud and other crimes. Arizona authorities said he bilked at least 15 investors out of more than $15 million. Zaler also was charged with selling $35,000 in fake Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Suns tickets.

In 1997, Zaler was sentenced to more than a decade in prison. Paroled in 2002, Zaler returned to Denver and got into a family business -- kosher meat. Zaler opened a deli, painted it the Israeli colors of blue and white and gave generously to Jewish charities. In 2005, he got a contract to sell kosher hot dogs at Denver's Pepsi Center, home of the Denver Nuggets.

As Zaler had before, he turned to his Jewish friends for capital. A former partner of his told authorities that he and Zaler falsified purchase orders for hot dogs to make investors think business was better than it was.

Then one investor grew skeptical and called the arena operator. Zaler's hot-dog scheme unraveled, and in February of this year, federal authorities accused Zaler of taking more than $2.2 million from investors based on the fake orders.

A few weeks later, authorities believe, Zaler was living in Jerusalem, despite being ordered not to leave Colorado.

The FBI learned of Zaler's whereabouts in April after a Denver-area man reported that his daughter met Zaler while eating in a restaurant in a Jerusalem hotel, the newspaper reported.

Zaler told the young woman he was "making aliya" -- Hebrew for moving to Israel, according to an affidavit filed in federal court by an FBI agent.

It's unclear whether Zaler flew to Israel using travel documents other than those he turned in to the court or if he used a different name.

Now, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado has started the process of trying to have Zaler extradited from Israel to the United States.

But spokesman Jeff Dorschner told the newspaper that extradition is complicated. It requires the involvement of the Department of Justice, the U.S. State Department, the American Embassy in Israel and the Israeli government.

"It's a slow process," Dorschner said.

While he's living in Israel, Zaler may be looking for investors again, the newspaper reported. The newspaper interviewed two people in Jerusalem who said Zaler plans to open a restaurant -- and he's looking for investors.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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