A federal jury has convicted a Bemus Point man of mail fraud. Acting U.S. Attorney James Kennedy Jr. says the charge against 46-year-old James MacCallum carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael DiGiacomo and Brian J. Counihan, who handled the prosecution of the case, stated between January 2008 and December 2010, MacCallum, a practicing attorney at the time, devised a scheme to defraud investors out of approximately $3,400,000. As part of the scheme, MacCallum encouraged some victims to liquidate other investments in order to benefit from his false and fraudulent higher rates of return. The defendant claimed that his investments were secured by real estate and life insurance policies. However, the Government’s evidence demonstrated that the defendant was using victim investments to pay back earlier investors and to pay personal and other expenses such as personal travel and office expenses. MacCallum received $3,423,737.00 from victim investors.
