Judge Orders Jail Time For Two Vendstar Defendants

NEW YORK CITY -- Two defendants in one of the most ambitious vending business-opportunity fraud cases on record have each been sentenced to two years or more in prison.

Howard S. Strauss, 66, of Jericho, NY, and Mark Benowitz, 68, of Midlothian, VA, were sales officials at Multivend LLC -- dba Vendstar -- and part of an initial pool of 13 defendants rounded up in November 2012 in a case that involves more than 300 victims. Vendstar, which was based in Deer Park, NY, operated until July 2010, according to the indictment.

On July 17, New York U.S. District Court Judge Joan M. Azrack sentenced Strauss to 28 months in prison and ordered him to pay almost $2.3 million in restitution to 230 victims. Benowitz was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to repay almost $1 million to 103 victims.

Both men pled guilty last year to fraud charges in connection with the biz-op scam that fleeced consumers throughout the United States. As with similar criminal enterprises, representatives of the company promised assistance in establishing a successful vending company though failed to follow through on those claims.