SEATTLE
A doctor found guilty of fraudulently seeking over $3.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds is scheduled for sentencing in February.
Last week, Eric R Shibley was convicted of multiple counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.
Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 22.
He is facing up to 20 years for each count of wire fraud, 30 years for each count of bank fraud, and 10 years for money laundering.
According to court documents presented at trial, Shibley, 41, of Seattle, submitted several fraudulent loans to federally insured financial institutions. He received over $2.8 million in COVID-19 relief funds as a result of the fraud.
Shibley was convicted of multiple counts of wire fraud, multiple counts of bank fraud, and money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 22, 2022, and faces 20 years for each count of wire fraud, 30 years for bank fraud, and 10 years for money laundering.
Shibley falsified the number of employees and payroll expenses in the applications and concealed his criminal history.
In support of the fraudulent applications, Shibley also faked tax documents and the names of purported employees who did not, in fact, work for the businesses for which Shibley claimed they worked.
Trial Attorney Laura Connelly of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Werner of the Western District of Washington are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s prosecution of fraud schemes that exploit the PPP.
Since the inception of the CARES Act, the Fraud Section has prosecuted over 150 defendants in more than 95 criminal cases and has seized over $75 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds, as well as numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with such proceeds.
More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/ppp-fraud.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866‑720‑5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.