Timothy Wadsworth sentenced to 51 months for pandemic-era fraud scheme
A Rochester man who ran card fraud, relief-loan scams, and a romance con through the COVID years will spend more than four years in federal prison
Timothy Wadsworth, a 35-year-old from Rochester, New York, is headed to federal prison for 51 months. He ran a series of fraud schemes that left victims and government programs with more than $2 million in losses.
US District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. handed down the sentence on October 23, 2026.
A fraud buffet, March 2020 to September 2021
The sentencing followed a guilty plea Wadsworth entered in May 2026. He admitted to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
The schemes ran from March 2020 through September 2021.
The largest piece involved stolen card activity. Wadsworth’s operation pushed unauthorized credit card transactions through a Stripe merchant account.
Between March 10 and May 15, 2020, there were 310 unauthorized credit-card payment attempts. Those attempts added up to $1,673,578.
Not all of them went through. Only 116 transactions succeeded, and those produced $730,728.22 in losses.
The card scheme was only one track. Wadsworth also filed fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, known as EIDL, which brought in $161,200.
He went after the Paycheck Protection Program too. Those PPP loans yielded approximately $41,000.
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Unemployment insurance was next on the list. Wadsworth collected around $65,900 in fraudulent unemployment benefits.
Then came the romance scam. A single wire transfer tied to that con netted him $42,000.
Taken together, the actual and intended losses came to approximately $2,059,893.
Restitution, forfeiture, and the sentence math
Prison time was not the only consequence. The court ordered Wadsworth to pay restitution of $810,965.19.
He must also forfeit nearly the same amount in proceeds.
The 51-month term is a fraction of what was on the table. The charges carried maximum potential penalties of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
How relief money became a target
His case is part of a broader federal crackdown on fraud that exploited pandemic relief efforts.
The mix of schemes stands out. Card fraud, loan fraud, benefits fraud, and a romance scam rarely show up in one file.
What this means
Restitution of $810,965.19 covers less than half of the total actual and intended losses of approximately $2,059,893.
For payment platforms, the case is a reminder of how merchant accounts can be abused. A single account processed 310 unauthorized payment attempts in roughly two months, between March 10 and May 15, 2020.
The schemes ended in September 2021, the plea came in May 2026, and the sentence landed in October 2026.