(WNY News Now) – Two Boca Raton, Florida, men have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in a nationwide scheme that caused companies to pay more than $8 million for products they had not ordered.

Alec Dierna, 32, and John Engler, 40, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Meredith A. Vacca in Buffalo, according to U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo.

Federal prosecutors said the fraud scheme operated from August 2020 through July 2022 and involved Dierna, Engler and five other defendants.

The group allegedly mailed solicitations from Florida, California and Rochester, New York, to tens of thousands of businesses nationwide. The mailers were designed to make companies believe they had previously ordered products and owed payment.

The mailers used various business names, including Office Outlet, America’s Best, United Chemicals, Hi-Tech Industrial, North Atlantic Supply, Nationwide Chemicals and Safety Supply.

According to prosecutors, several thousand companies paid a combined $8,010,543.50 to companies controlled by the co-conspirators for products they had not ordered.

Five other defendants — Dylan Paul Costanza, Nicholas Scarantino, Kyle Paul Edward Gibson, Tommy Lee Coburn and Bryan Lantry — previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and are awaiting sentencing. Five Star Warehouse, LLC, also entered a corporate guilty plea and is awaiting sentencing.

The federal investigation involved the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Dierna and Engler each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

They are scheduled to be sentenced on February 10, 2027, at 10 a.m. before Judge Vacca.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melissa M. Marangola and Kyle P. Rossi.