Todd J. Fendler, Mail Fraud, Illinois 2018

ROCKFORD — A Rockford man was sentenced to federal prison today for mail fraud, in a scheme that left his clients and business partners millions of dollars poorer.

Todd J. Fendler, 42, was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, in addition to being ordered to pay $965,879.63 in restitution.

Fendler, who pleaded guilty to the charge on Jan. 17, 2018, was a licensed insurance producer who owned and operated several insurance-related businesses in Rockford, including Surplus Market Solutions LLC, Northern Underwriting Managers Inc., Northern Illinois Insurance Billing Services, and Northern Illinois Insurance Agency Inc.

According to a written plea agreement, Fendler obtained bank account information from businesses and individuals who had applied for insurance policies through Fendler’s companies. Using the victims’ bank account information, without authorization, Fendler used online services to create fictitious electronic checks purportedly issued by the victims and payable to Fendler’s companies.

Fendler deposited those fictitious checks into bank accounts he controlled and then kept those funds for his own purposes. Fendler also made unauthorized electronic withdrawals from his clients’ bank accounts and the bank accounts of insurance agents and agencies that Fendler did business with, and then kept those funds for his own purposes.

The sentencing was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Craig Goldberg, Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John G. McKenzie and Scott R. Paccagnini.

As Fendler prepares to serve his time, his victims are left to pick up the pieces of their lives. They had trusted Fendler to manage their insurance needs, but instead, he used that trust to line his own pockets.

With his sentence, Fendler is being held accountable for his crimes. But for those who were victimized by his actions, the real punishment will be the time and money they spent trying to recover from his deceit.

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