The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Paul Hendler, 49, of Burlington, pleaded not guilty today in United States District Court in Burlington to federal forgery and false statement charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle released Hendler on conditions pending trial, which has not been scheduled.
In 2011, the U.S. Attorney’s Office first charged Hendler in a wide-ranging fraud indictment that accused Hendler of committing a variety of frauds against individuals and businesses. Hendler eventually pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering and in 2015 was sent to prison. The court also ordered Hendler to pay restitution to multiple victims in a total amount of about $555,000. When Hendler got out of prison, he began a three-year term of supervised release. As a condition of supervised release, the court ordered Hendler to pay 10% of his gross monthly income toward his restitution obligation. Hendler’s release was supervised by the U.S. Probation Office in Vermont, and Hendler was required to submit monthly supervision reports to the Probation Office that included disclosures about monthly earnings and other cash inflows.
On January 27, 2022, a federal grand jury in Burlington returned a two-count indictment that charged Hendler with forgery and making false statements. According to the indictment, between 2019 and January 2021, Hendler performed some consulting and other work for a business that operated two restaurants in South Hero. Also according to the indictment, in 2020, Hendler took possession of the company’s check book. Between 2019 and January 2021, the indictment alleges, Hendler embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from the business by stealing cash receipts generated by the restaurants, forging the business owner’s signature on checks Hendler made out to himself, and by fraudulently inducing the owner to give him blank checks, signed by her, which Hendler then made payable to himself.
The second count of the indictment accuses Hendler of making materially false statements to the U.S. Probation Office in his monthly supervision reports. According to the indictment, the reports Hendler filled out and gave to Probation significantly underreported the amount of money Hendler was receiving from the South Hero restaurant business.
The U.S. Attorney emphasizes that the charges in the indictment are merely accusations and that Hendler is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty.
If convicted, Hendler faces up to ten years of imprisonment on the forgery charge, up to five years of imprisonment on the false statement charge, and a fine of up to $250,000 for each offense. The actual sentence would be determined with reference to federal sentencing guidelines. The United States is also seeking forfeiture of money or property that Hendler obtained from the alleged forgery.
This case was investigated by the Boston Office of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Hendler was represented at today’s hearing by the Office of the Federal Public Defender. The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.
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