2017
Dean Lester Springer of Palm Desert, Calif., was sentenced on Feb. 24 to one year and one day in federal prison for helping to defraud investors who bought interests in shipping containers. Springer, who had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Springer was a salesman for Intermodal Wealth Inc., a shipping container company which had offices in Houston and Panama City, Panama. The company created sham lease agreements for the containers. Most of the money repaid to investors came from Ponzi-scheme payments made by other investors.
Besides helping to raise approximately $10 million from investors, Springer formed World Container Inc., an affiliated company used to perpertate the fraud.
One of Springer's co-defendants, John Patrick Acord, was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Dec. 20, 2016. Acord was the chief financial officer of Intermodal Wealth.