“Shark Tank” contestant Nathaniel Holzapfel appeared on the show in 2013 in Season 5 to pitch his business Mission Belt, along with his brother Zac and their business partner Jeff Jensen, ABC4 reports. Mission Belt is a one-size-fits-all belt design, with one dollar of every belt sold put toward entrepreneurial micro-loans in developing countries, ABC4 elsewhere writes. “Shark Tank” investor Daymond John liked what he heard and backed the company, per CNBC.
In 2021, Holzapfel was arrested for wire fraud, according to ABC4, after reportedly defrauding a woman of her home. She signed over partial ownership of her house to a company Holzapfel had a stake in. He then sold the property without her consent, promising to invest proceeds in another fraudulent company. Instead, Holzapfel used the money to pay his own debts.
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After that arrest, another financial fraud victim came forward alleging Holzapfel tricked her into writing a $100,000 check, according to KJZZ 14. As of 2022, Holzapfel faced a long list of additional fraud charges, KSL News reported. Holzapfel’s legal problems worsened when he was charged with sex crimes in Utah. As of April 2022, he was held in a Utah County Jail and was no longer associated with Mission Belt, the company said in a statement.
