Columbia man, 79, sentenced for investment fraud

A 79-year-old Columbia man will spend 18 months in federal prison and pay more than $1.1 million in restitution for an investment fraud scheme.

Billings Chapman was sentenced Thursday by federal Judge Stephen R. Bough in Jefferson City. Chapman pleaded guilty in April to one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering. He was part owner of CheckmarcUSA, LLC, which was formed to collect on bad checks for banks, and he owned Federal Financial Services LLC, a company he used to solicit investors, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.

Between May 2011 and April 2014 Chapman defrauded investors by misleading them and using investment funds for his personal benefit, the release said. Chapman misrepresented the financial stability of his companies to investors, federal authorities alleged, and investors lost $1,123,814.

Chapman also didn’t tell investors that he was barred from trading securities, authorities said.

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