Des Moines, Iowa — A Pella man who says he graduated from Dordt College in Sioux Center in 1992 and told investors he was a health coach and consultant has been sentenced to more than six-and-a-half years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme.
Court documents say Mark Alan Blankespoor told more than 100 investors he was developing medically-oriented gyms and he had licensed the program to fitness clinics across the country. Prosecutors say at least 100 victims gave Blankespoor 15 million dollars to invest over a four-year period. Reports are that the approximately 15 northwest Iowa investors invested between $20,000 and $300,000, each.
Blankespoor admitted to authorities he used the money for his personal expenses and to pay other investors. In addition to his 80-month prison sentence, Blankespoor has been ordered to pay victims of the scheme nearly eight-and-a-half million dollars. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison and up to a quarter-of-a-million dollar fine.
