Jeffrey D. McHatton, Securities Fraud, Arizona 2022

A Chandler man has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for defrauding investors out of over $1.2 million in a scheme that targeted the elderly.

Jeffrey D. McHatton, 68, was sentenced by United States District Judge Rosemary Márquez on December 12, 2022, after being found guilty by a jury on 10 counts of Securities Fraud.

According to evidence presented at trial, McHatton and his co-defendants Robert Sproat, 60, of Mesa, Arizona, and Robert Moss, 56, of Gilbert, Arizona, used a religious charitable organization as a front to entice victims to invest in a scheme that promised to recover low alpha lead from Central America, gold from the Philippines, and diamonds from Africa.

However, none of the items were ever produced, and the victims never received a return on their investments other than minimal 'interest' payments derived from other victims' money.

The FBI and the Arizona Corporation Commission conducted the investigation in this case, while the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Section of the United States Attorney's Office, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.

McHatton's co-defendants, Sproat and Moss, were previously sentenced to 30 months in prison and pleaded guilty to their involvement in the scheme, respectively.

The case number is CR-18-2220-TUC-RM, and the release number is 2022-224_McHatton et al.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/chandler-man-sentenced-33-months-defrauding-investors