Man Sentenced on Wire Fraud Charge

BUFFALO, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that James Stewart, 35, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, who was convicted of a felony charge of wire fraud on May 26, 2011, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, with three years of supervised release, by U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $162,875.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward H. White, who handled the case, stated that from June 2003 to November 2003, the defendant executed a scheme to defraud and obtain money from one victim by stating that he would sell the victim approximately 2,409 laptop computers. The defendant used interstate and wire communications to send e-mails to the victim, making false representations that were designed to induce the victim to purchase the laptop computers. The defendant was the recipient of four separate wire transfers totaling $162,875 from the victim for the purported purchase of laptop computers. The defendant kept the money and failed to deliver or provide the victim the 2,409 laptop computers.

The conviction was the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Christopher M. Piehota, Special Agent in Charge.