Lisbon man sentenced to eight years in prison for defrauding investors out of $1 million

A Lisbon man was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for defrauding people out of more than $1 million and using the money to pay for luxury cars and expensive vacations, said U.S. Attorney Carole S. Rendon and Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland Office.

Paul L. Shockley, 24, was found guilty last year of three counts of mail fraud.

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

Shockley operated multiple fraud schemes.

He established several companies, known collectively as D’Legato, that was a purported start-up venture that would operate an assisted living center. Neither Shockley nor any of his associates had operated an assisted-living center before. Shockley defrauded four New York residents between 2013 and 2015 by causing them to invest in D’Legato through false and 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 combined loss to victims in the D’Legato fraud scheme was approximately $563,000, according to court documents.

Shockley 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, according to court documents.

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 personal expenses, unreasonably high salaries and luxury shopping sprees. 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 prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul M. Flannery following an investigation by the FBI, with assistance from the US Postal Inspection Service.