A Williamsville man pleaded guilty to mail fraud in an investment scheme that caused more than $54.4 million in losses.
Richard Teplitsky, 72, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge John Sinatra Jr., according to an announcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
Teplitsky was president of Woodhill Capital Corporation, which solicited money from investors in Western New York and elsewhere, according to his plea agreement.
He and other Woodhill personnel told investors their money would finance loans to businesses buying commercial equipment.
Investors were told they could earn returns of 14% or more as those businesses repaid their loans.
In exchange for their money, investors received copies of equipment-financing agreements between Woodhill and business borrowers, along with amortization schedules showing when they would receive monthly payments.
Woodhill typically made those payments on the 10th or the 25th of the month.
But from the mid-1990s through March 2026, Teplitsky did not use most of the investors’ money to make the business loans he had described, according to the plea agreement.
Instead, he used the money to cover payments Woodhill owed to earlier investors.
Teplitsky created fraudulent equipment-financing agreements and payment schedules that falsely represented the investments as money being lent to business borrowers.
By March 2026, Woodhill owed payments to about 200 investors on approximately 1,800 outstanding fraudulent loans.
The total loss associated with Teplitsky’s fraudulent conduct was $54,406,742, prosecutors said.
The mail-fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced the plea, which followed an FBI investigation under Special Agent in Charge Allen Davis II.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Bonanno is prosecuting the case.
Sentencing will be scheduled later.
File illustration of a gavel and balance scales.
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