Man Sentenced for Defrauding South Carolina Printers

COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins stated today that Michael T. Verburg, age 56, formerly of Gainesville, Georgia, was sentenced today in federal court in Columbia, South Carolina, for mail fraud. United States District Judge Margaret B. Seymour of Columbia sentenced Verburg to nine years incarceration and ordered him to pay back over $6 million to the victims. However, Verburg is destitute and has no money, so actual restitution likely will be a fraction of the loss amount.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Verburg was the owner of Brochure Specialists, LLC, a company he started in 2002 and ran from his home in Gainesville, Georgia. Brochure Specialists located customers who needed print jobs, identified printers willing to do the work, and acted as a liaison. Brochure Specialists did not do actual printing work, but contracted with over fifty companies to perform the actual printing, both in the United States and in Canada. Major Printing, Martin Printing, and R.L. Bryan Company were all South Carolina companies that performed printing jobs for Verburg.

Verburg would solicit printers to perform jobs brokered by Brochure Specialists, and then he would quote a price to the customers substantially below the bid in order to obtain their business. He never had any intention of paying the printing companies. Verburg would bill the customers and receive payment directly from them. He would then have the printing companies perform the jobs without informing them of the lower price.

Verburg would receive the invoices from the printing companies and either not pay the printing companies, or pay the printing companies a fraction of the amount due in order to entice them to continue to perform print jobs. He caused the printing companies to deliver the finished jobs to the customers. As a result, the customers received the finished product for amounts substantially below the costs of performing the jobs, and the South Carolina printing companies suffered substantial losses in excess of $470,000. The amount of loss for U.S. victims totaled approximately $1.6 million. The loss to the Canadian victims added up to approximately $4.4 million.

The case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Winston D. Holliday, Jr., of the Columbia office handled the case.