A serial entrepreneur with a Yale undergraduate degree and a penchant for raising money for his ventures from fellow graduates is finding himself answering to authorities.

On Thursday, federal authorities based in New Jersey arrested the entrepreneur, Joshua B. Newman, and charged him with two counts of wire fraud and misappropriating money from more than a dozen investors. The charges stem from efforts by Mr. Newman to raise money for several CrossFit training centers that he said he planned to own and operate in New York and New Jersey, authorities said.

Mr. Newman, 35, who graduated from Yale in 2001, has positioned himself as something of a local spokesman for the high-intensity fitness movement that has swept the nation. At one time, he was a co-founder of one of the larger independently owned CrossFit centers in Manhattan.

He is not affiliated with CrossFit Inc., a fitness consulting firm based in Washington. Centers using the CrossFit brand name are independently run.