The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today the entry of a final judgment on April 11, 2022, against Andrew J. Chapin, formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Benja Inc. Chapin agreed to pay $2,819,692 to settle charges that he defrauded investors in Benja, which declared bankruptcy in October 2020.

The SEC's complaint, filed on November 11, 2020, alleged that from 2018 to 2020, Chapin, the founder and CEO of Benja, told investors that Benja was a successful online advertising platform that generated millions of dollars in revenue from popular consumer clothing brands and retailers. In reality, the complaint alleged, Benja never did business with the companies. The complaint further alleged that in order to secure investments, Chapin enlisted one or more associates to help induce investments from venture capital investors by impersonating representatives of Benja's purported customers and the supposed founder of a venture capital fund who falsely claimed to have made a large investment in Benja. According to the complaint, Chapin also provided an investor with forged contracts and doctored bank statements.

Chapin consented to the entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining him from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, permanently barring him from serving as an officer or director of a public company, and ordering him to pay a total of $2,635,000 in disgorgement and $184,692 in prejudgment interest. Those payments are deemed satisfied by Chapin's guilty plea in a related criminal matter, pursuant to which the court sentenced Chapin to 36 months imprisonment and ordered him to pay $8,069,900 of restitution to the victims of his fraudulent scheme.

The SEC's litigation against Chapin was conducted by Susan LaMarca and Matthew Meyerhofer of the SEC's San Francisco Regional Office. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Matthew Meyerhofer and supervised by Tracy L. Davis and Monique C. Winkler of the San Francisco Regional Office.