Date: November 3, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Buffalo, NY — U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Brian L. Schumacher of Penfield, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was sentenced to serve eight months in prison and pay restitution totaling $170,000 by Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly, who handled the case, stated that between April and December of 2016, the defendant conspired with others to defraud two investors, located in Massachusetts and California, out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The investors wired significant amounts of funding to Schumacher's company, Integra Diamonds, located in Rochester, New York, to enable Integra Diamonds to purchase diamonds in Africa. Victim 1, a resident of Massachusetts, wire transferred $100,000.00 from his bank account to an account in the name of Integra Diamonds. During the course of the conspiracy, $30,000 was returned to Victim 1, but not the remaining $70,000 of his initial investment nor any of the promised return on the investment. Victim 2, a resident of California, invested $100,000.00 in Integra Diamonds after receiving a promise for a significant return on the investment. Schumacher used Victim 2's money to purchase, among other things, 1,211.85 carats of industrial diamonds for $30,296.25. Schumacher then resold those diamonds to a U.S. diamond broker for $11,514 and failed to return any of the proceeds of the sale to Victim 2 notwithstanding Victim 2's multiple requests for status updates and a return of his funds. These requests by Victim 2 resulted in Schumacher making a number of excuses for the failure of the investment. Integra Diamonds did not repay Victim 2 any portion of the $100,000 loan principle, or interest. The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division, under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Boston Division Inspector-in-Charge Ketty Larco-Ward.
