2016
John Patrick Acord was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Dec. 20 and ordered to pay $8.2 million in restitution after pleading guilty to securities fraud in U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Houston.
Acord was the chief financial officer of Intermodal Wealth Inc. , a shipping container company which had offices in Houston and Panama City, Panama. Acord, who also used the fictitious name John Delano, was part of a scheme to defraud investors who were supposed to be paid profits from leasing intermodal shipping containers to businesses for use on rail, trucks, and ships.
Intermodal created sham lease agreements, and most of the money repaid to investors came from Ponzi-scheme payments made by other investors.
Acord had two prior federal convictions for fraud-related offenses and had twice been permanently enjoined by the Securities and Exchange Commission.