Lisbon man gets 8 years in fraud scheme

Staff report

CLEVELAND

A Lisbon man has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for defrauding people out of more than $1 million and using the money to pay for luxury cars and expensive vacations, the U.S. attorney said.

Paul L. Shockley, 24, drew the 97-month prison term Friday from U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster after he pleaded guilty last year to three counts of mail fraud.

“This defendant lived the high life by stealing the fruits of other peoples’ labor,” said Carole S. Rendon, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “His days of fleeing responsibility for his actions are over.”

Shockley established several companies, known collectively as D’Legato, that was a purported start-up venture that would operate an assisted-living center.

Between 2013 and 2015, Shockley caused four New York residents to invest in D’Legato through fraudulent misrepresentations, according to court documents.

Shockley persuaded one of the victims to use part of her retirement savings to make payments on unauthorized credit-card transactions, falsely telling the victim the payments would be credited as investments in D’Legato, the U.S. attorney said.

The combined loss to victims in the D’Legato fraud scheme was approximately $563,000, according to court documents.

The defendant also induced victims to provide him with credit-card information, which he used to make more than $308,000 in unauthorized purchases on at least 17 different credit cards, court documents said.

In 2015, Shockley and others defrauded two other people by enticing them to invest in We Love Snobs, which purported to be an online luxury consignment store.

Shockley routinely misled investors and told them investments would result in high returns, when in fact he used the money to pay for personal expenses, unreasonably high salaries and luxury shopping sprees, the U.S. attorney said.

The combined losses of the We Love Snobs scheme is $280,000, according to court documents.

Shockley also removed his ankle monitor and fled Ohio while out on bond after pleading guilty, according to court documents.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.