Todd M. Chapman, a 58-year-old former office manager from Huntington, West Virginia, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for bank fraud. The sentence also includes five years of supervised release and an order to pay $602,362.97 in restitution. Chapman admitted to embezzling funds from a now-defunct Huntington law firm where he worked for about 30 years.
According to court records and statements made during the proceedings, Chapman began his scheme in 2016 by writing unauthorized checks from both the firm’s operating accounts and client trust accounts to himself. He had full control over the firm’s finances at the time. As part of his guilty plea, Chapman acknowledged forging signatures on checks, creating false documents, making false statements under oath, and lying to federal investigators who were looking into missing client funds at the firm. He left his position at the law firm in April 2022.
The investigation found that Chapman took at least $409,000 from estates of three deceased clients of the firm, $100,000 intended for a minor upon reaching adulthood, and nearly $16,000 from another minor’s settlement deposit following an injury as an infant. Additionally, he misappropriated over $13,600 from a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan meant to help the business during the COVID-19 pandemic under the CARES Act.
Five victims spoke during Chapman’s sentencing hearing. The court determined that Chapman abused his position of trust over several years and imposed the maximum sentence permitted by Sentencing Commission guidelines.
“The Court concluded that Chapman’s crime was despicable and cold-hearted,” said United States Attorney Moore Capito. “People who needed help, including injured children, put their trust in this law firm and Todd Chapman shattered that trust. He accomplished this by betraying the trust that the law firm placed in him. My office and our law enforcement partners will never tolerate such attempts to prey upon the public or threaten its trust in our legal institutions.”
Capito announced the outcome and recognized investigative efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cabell County Sheriff’s Office, and Steve Rowley—now retired—as Litigation Financial Analyst for the Southern District of West Virginia.
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers delivered Chapman’s sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Erik S. Goes and Kathleen Robeson prosecuted along with former Assistant United States Attorney Andrew J. Tessman.
Further information is available through PACER by searching Case No. 3:25-cr-121 on PACER.
