James R. Niblock pleaded guilty in April 2003 to five counts of wire fraud stemming from his scheme to embezzle from an escrow account he maintained.  He was sentenced in July 2003 to 19.6 years in prison and ordered to repay almost $10 million in restitution.  He is currently incarcerated in Bastrop Federal Correctional Institute in Texas, with a projected release date in 2020.

Despite Niblock's reference to MacDonald's "second" 2255 petition being filed in 2006, MacDonald's four petitions to date were filed in 1984, 1990, 1997, and 2006.