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The University of Austin,a private college based in downtown Austin, is at the center of a federal fraud lawsuit against John Robison, who has ties to Texas and national GOP politics.<\/p>\n
Ricardo B. Brazziell\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n
The University of Austin<\/a>, the self-described conservative alternative to \u201cwoke\u201d liberal education, is the backdrop of a federal fraud trial starting today.<\/p>\n The Justice Department says that John Robison, a conservative operative and filmmaker, bilked an investor out of $1 million he said would be used to purchase land in\u00a0Bastrop County for a future University of Austin campus and community.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t clear whether the university had a role in the deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robison has said he relocated from California to Texas at the behest of former Gov. Rick Perry, who wanted to bring Hollywood to Central Texas. Now, he\u2019s described in the lawsuit as a real estate\u00a0fraudster who, according to congressional investigators, also had a role in President Donald Trump\u2019s attempts to overturn the 2020 election of Joe Biden using fake electors.<\/p>\n Though he has said he\u2019s a millionaire, Robison now claims poverty, asking for a court-appointed attorney to represent him in the federal case. He pleaded not guilty after his arrest in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n John Robison, a Travis County-based conservative operative and filmmaker, arrives to the U.S. District Courthouse in Austin, Monday, July 20, 2026.<\/p>\n Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Federal prosecutors say an entity named\u00a0FG Trust invested $1 million in\u00a0Four Gates Property LP in 2022, in which Robison was the senior managing partner and held a 75% ownership stake. Walter Berkeley\u00a0Fondren, a 29 year old\u00a0with ties to the philanthropic Houston oil and gas family, was managing partner and held the remaining 25%.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Robison told FG Trust that he was an experienced real estate investor and, according to records in an earlier state court trial he lost, already had property under contract. In that trial,\u00a0FG Trust said that wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n Four Gates was supposed to keep the cash locked up in escrow until it raised $2 million, enough to move forward. When it didn\u2019t, the investment was canceled and Robison was to return the $1 million. He didn\u2019t. FG Trust sued and won in state District Court, with a default judgment for $3 million in October 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cDefendants did not hold the trust\u2019s investment in escrow. To the contrary, upon information and belief, Robison\u00a0\u2014 with the help of\u00a0Fondren, who knowingly participated in Robison\u2019s scheme\u00a0\u2014 absconded with nearly all of the money,\u201d according to the civil lawsuit filed by James Blake\u00a0Brickman, an FG Trust trustee.<\/p>\n A wider web<\/p>\n Brickman is perhaps best known as one of the former state attorneys who blew the whistle on Attorney General Ken\u00a0Paxton, alleging corruption and bribery. He is vice president of government affairs at Saronic Technologies Inc., the Austin drone boat builder that last week announced plans to invest billions of dollars in a Texas shipyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Brickman also has ties to Joe Lonsdale, the tech entrepreneur who helped found the software company\u00a0Palantir and is co-founder of the University of Austin.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former Deputy Attorney General Blake Brickman, one of the plaintiffs in a whistleblower lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton, awaits closing arguments at Paxton’s impeachment trial at the Capitol in 2023.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n Brickman and Lonsdale are both listed as witnesses for the government in the federal trial. So is\u00a0Fondren, who flipped on his former business partner and settled with\u00a0FG Trust in the state civil suit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robison, however, stopped showing up for the state case and was hit with the default judgment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Lonsdale\u2019s role in the federal case is not clear. He may be scheduled to testify about the relationship of Four Gates Property to the University of Austin. He may also be tied to\u00a0FG Trust. Little information could be found about the private trust or Robison\u2019s connection to Lonsdale and the trust.<\/p>\n The court filing names only James Blake Brickman as special trustee and does not identify Lonsdale as the trust\u2019s settlor or beneficiary. Brickman\u2019s attorney, Josh Romero, a Jackson Walker partner with extensive fraud litigation experience, is also listed as a government witness.\u00a0<\/p>\n The federal case, however, is targeting Robison.<\/p>\n He was raised in Houston and attended Texas A&M before relocating to California. He has said previously that he made millions in technology companies in Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But his business career has been tumultuous, including at least two separate bankruptcies. He was pushed into involuntary liquidation of his assets in a bankruptcy proceeding in 2003, according to court records, and filed for Chapter 7 again in 2009.<\/p>\n He was also working in media, founding numerous companies.<\/p>\n John Robison, chairman and CEO of New Republic Studios, seen in 2018 outside the studio in\u00a0Bastrop County.<\/p>\n Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Return to Texas,\u00a0GovWhiz, Bastrop<\/p>\n In 2013, Robison relocated to Texas and made a documentary about Texas A&M University\u2019s decision to join the SEC athletic conference.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He says he returned to the state at then-Gov. Perry\u2019s invitation. Texas had enacted an incentive program to build up its film industry and was looking to ramp up productions. Robison has said it was a succinct pitch revolving around emerging technology and media markets in Austin.<\/p>\n \u201cThe difference between being California and Texas is I couldn\u2019t get anyone in government to even treat any of my, whether it\u2019s entertainment, business or technology [companies], as if we mattered \u2026 And Texas is completely different,\u201d he said on a 2018 podcast.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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