Eric Shibley

Identity and role

Eric R. Shibley, M.D., of Seattle, was 43 at his March 2022 sentencing, according to the Justice Department, which describes him as a former Seattle doctor whose license to practice medicine was suspended in 2020. He had no role at a lender, platform or contractor. He was a borrower who pleaded not guilty and went to trial.

Biography / career arc

The government's trial brief groups six companies as "the Shibley entities": Eric R Shibley MD PLLC, SS1 LLC, ES1 LLC, The A Team Holdings LLC, Dituri Construction LLC, and SFC LLC a/k/a Seattle's Finest Cannabis LLC. According to the brief, Dituri Construction LLC was allegedly sold to him in early 2020, and the government would use bank and other records to show that it "did not have the employees, payroll, or revenue as claimed by Shibley."

The case / pandemic-relief role

According to DOJ, Shibley submitted 26 fraudulent PPP applications and 13 EIDL applications to federally insured financial institutions, other SBA-approved lenders and the SBA, in the names of businesses with no actual operations or by misrepresenting a business's eligibility. The applications overstated employees and payroll, came with fake tax documents, listed purported employees who did not work for the businesses, and concealed his own criminal history.

The trial brief put the pitch in numbers: over 100 employees across six businesses, payroll of about $1,000,000 a month, and payroll taxes paid for all of them. It said the lenders and the SBA disbursed over $2.5 million to him. The government listed employees of Ready Capital, Huntington Bank (the owner of TCF Bank), Celtic Bank, Harvest Small Business Finance and Customers Bank, plus the SBA, as witnesses, and planned to introduce his emails to Celtic and Harvest naming people he claimed were his employees.

Their own relief

The A Team Holdings LLC received a $960,000 PPP loan wired from Customers Bank to a Wells Fargo account; ES1 LLC received a $100,000 PPP loan from TCF National Bank, per the trial brief. Restitution went to the lenders and the SBA: $960,000 to Customers Bank, $200,000 to Huntington Bank and $278,000 to the SBA, for $1,438,000.

Five bank balances were seized between about May 27 and June 30, 2020, the largest $804,816.63 from Wells Fargo. The final order of forfeiture, entered September 30, 2022, covers all five, which add up to $1,183,501.08 by our sum, plus a separate $254,199 money judgment the government described as "the unrecovered proceeds" of the schemes.

Legal status

Charged: by criminal complaint filed June 29, 2020, then a fifteen-count indictment — United States v. Shibley, No. 2:20-cr-00174-JCC (W.D. Wash.).
Convicted: by a jury in November 2021 on all fifteen counts after a plea of not guilty: wire fraud (counts 1–7, 18 U.S.C. § 1343), bank fraud (counts 8–10, § 1344(2)) and money laundering (counts 11–15, § 1957), per the judgment.
Sentencing positions: the government asked for 97 months, the low end of its guidelines calculation; the Probation Office recommended 48; the defense asked for 24.
Sentenced: March 8, 2022, by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour: 48 months in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution of $1,438,000 and a $1,500 special assessment. DOJ quoted the judge attributing the sentence to "the blatant nature of the fraud and its size," and on Shibley's trial testimony: "I have to say it was one of the worst performances of a criminal defendant. There was very little willingness to adhere to the truth while testifying." An amended judgment was entered April 4, 2022.
Appeal: the Ninth Circuit affirmed (Nos. 22-30043 and 22-30113; argued February 15, 2023); its mandate issued March 22, 2023.

Where they are now

Shibley began his three years of supervised release on May 29, 2024, according to the court. On March 23, 2026, his lawyer moved to end supervision early, telling the court his restitution had been paid in full; the government opposed, and Judge Coughenour denied the motion on April 7, 2026, finding that 23 months of general compliance "is not sufficient to support termination." Supervision is set to run to May 29, 2027, per the government's filing.

Sources held in this archive

Customers Bank — lender on the $960,000 A Team Holdings loan and the largest restitution payee
Harvest Small Business Finance, Celtic Bank and Ready Capital — lenders the government listed as trial witnesses

Case filings on this site

U.S. v. Shibley (W.D. Wash.) — complaint, trial brief, trial exhibits, sentencing memoranda, judgments and forfeiture order
Full docket, W.D. Wash. No. 2:20-cr-00174 — appeal and supervised-release filings