Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York | Department of Justice
Robert W. Lederhilger III was sentenced on Mar. 10 to 73 months in prison for running a nationwide mass-mailing fraud scheme that targeted small businesses and resulted in nearly $9 million in losses, according to United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton.
The case highlights the risks faced by small businesses from deceptive practices and underscores law enforcement's efforts to address such schemes.
Clayton said, “Robert Lederhilger stole millions of dollars from tens of thousands of small businesses, $180 at a time. Lederhilger thought his large scale, small sum fraud would go undetected. He was wrong. Stealing $5 million $180 at a time got him 73 months. Fraudsters like him should beware. This Office and our law enforcement partners will work to bring to justice anyone who takes advantage of the good people of New York and beyond. Today’s sentence reinforces that message.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2015 and 2022, Lederhilger orchestrated a scheme involving nearly three million deceptive mailers sent primarily to small businesses with existing websites. The mailers appeared as invoices for web hosting services, typically requesting payment of $180. Many recipients believed they owed money for these services and paid the invoices, despite their websites being hosted elsewhere. Victims received nothing except another invoice the following year.
Lederhilger personally obtained at least approximately $5.2 million through this operation. In addition to his prison sentence, he was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay forfeiture totaling about $5.2 million. Restitution will be determined at a later date.
Clayton praised the investigative work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in bringing the case forward.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Getzel Berger, Camille L. Fletcher, Kevin Grossinger, and Daniel G. Nessim from the General Crimes Unit.
