Billington was charged in Virginia State court with nine felony counts of "conspiracy to be an unregistered securities broker".
Prosecutors charged that Billington solicited 131 loans from 85 people that totaled $1.24 million even though he knew the money would not be repaid.
[4] Billington asserted his innocence and refused a plea bargain that would have resulted in being sentenced to the time already served in federal prison.
[7] At the state trial, held in Roanoke, the prosecutor said that Billington was "ruthless" in his fundraising from old people who "look upon him in such a close and trusting fashion that they would do whatever he asked."
"[1] Billington reportedly offered high interest rates and promised lenders that the money would be safer than in a bank.
[9] In 1990, his bank accounts, along with those of Laurence Hecht and two LaRouche enterprises, were seized to fulfill a judgment related to $260,000 obtained from an 88-year-old man suffering from dementia under misrepresentations.
In January 2008, Billington debated London School of Economics Asia expert James Putzel on Iranian television, as part of the English-language Press TV's "Four Corners" program.
The topic of the discussion was the insurgency in the southern part of the Philippines, and whether it is a solely indigenous problem, or whether American interests have played a role in creating it.