Pella Man Sentenced to Prison for Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Scheme [View all]
DES MOINES, IA – On November 1, 2019, Mark Alan Blankespoor, of Pella, Iowa, was sentenced to 80 months in prison by United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger for wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum. Blankespoor was ordered by the Court to serve three years of supervised release to follow his prison term. Additionally, he must pay $8,464,103 in restitution to over 100 victims.
The defendant pleaded guilty to wire fraud in June of 2019. According to court documents, Blankespoor was a health coach and consultant in Pella. He represented to others he was involved in developing medically-oriented gyms and licensed the program to fitness clinics across the United States. For more than four years, Blankespoor represented to investors they had an opportunity to make money by investing in the medically-oriented gym concept. At least 100 investors provided Blankespoor with approximately $15 million in investment funds. Blankespoor admitted he used the investors’ money for unauthorized purposes that were not for the benefit of the affected investors. Blankespoor used the investor money, unbeknownst to them, for his personal expenses and paying other investors to further the scheme.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this matter. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdia/pr/pella-man-sentenced-prison-multi-million-dollar-fraud-scheme
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