A former lawyer from Chautauqua County may be facing as much as 20 years in prison and a $250-thousand fine on a federal charge of mail fraud for a nearly three year long ponzi scheme.
44-year-old James MacCallum of Bemus Point was indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday for the charge. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, the indictment states that MacCallum used a scheme to defrauded investors of more than $3.4 million between January 2008 and December 2010.
It explains that MacCallum encouraged victims to liquidate other investments in order to benefit from his false and fraudulent rates of higher return, secured by real estate and life insurance policies.
The investigation into the case determined that MacCallum was using victims' investments to pay back earlier investors and cover personal and office expenses.
MacCallum has been released on bond.
