(WNY News Now) – ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A 35-year-old Rochester man will serve 51 months in federal prison after being convicted of conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering in schemes that caused approximately $2.06 million in actual and intended losses, including fraud involving federal relief programs, according to federal prosecutors.

Timothy Wadsworth was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $810,965.19 in restitution. He was also ordered to forfeit $810,956.19 in proceeds received through the wire fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.

Federal prosecutors said the schemes occurred between March 2020 and September 2021.

Wadsworth obtained credit card account numbers from co-conspirators and processed unauthorized transactions, transferring money into bank accounts he controlled. He then moved portions of the proceeds into a Coinbase account, purchased Bitcoin and transferred the cryptocurrency to co-conspirators.

Between March 10 and May 15, 2020, Wadsworth attempted to process 310 payments totaling approximately $1.67 million through a payment-processing account. Of those transactions, 116 initially succeeded, generating $730,728.22 in fraudulent payments, prosecutors said.

Wadsworth and others also submitted nine fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, or EIDL, between May 2020 and May 2021. Three applications were approved, resulting in $161,200 being deposited into Wadsworth’s bank accounts.

He also applied for six Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling $91,219. Two loans, worth $20,833 and $20,416, were funded after applications allegedly contained false information about the businesses seeking assistance.

Additionally, prosecutors said Wadsworth improperly received approximately $65,896 in unemployment benefits from New York, Washington state and the U.S. Department of Labor between May 2020 and September 2021.

The case also involved a romance fraud scheme targeting a recently widowed woman who met someone on Facebook claiming to work on an oil rig. The victim was asked to send $42,000 for travel expenses and wired the money to Wadsworth’s bank account on March 20, 2020.

Wadsworth also defrauded six other victims of approximately $26,000, according to prosecutors.

The investigation involved the FBI, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York State Department of Financial Services and New York State Department of Labor. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford prosecuted the case.