WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Doctor charged with federal crimes, accused of fraudulently seeking $3 million in coronavirus-relief loans

A West Seattle-based doctor is charged with two federal counts of fraud, accused of fraudulently seeking more than $3 million in federal COVID-19-relief Paycheck Protection Program loans. The charges against 41-year-old Dr. Eric Shibley were announced Tuesday; a reader called our attention today to the fact the defendant has an office in West Seattle. From the federal announcement:

The complaint alleges that Shibley submitted several fraudulent PPP loan applications to federally insured financial institutions, other U.S. Small Business Administration-approved lenders, and the SBA in the names of businesses with no actual operations or by misrepresenting the business’s eligibility. In the applications, Shibley allegedly misrepresented the number of employees and payroll expenses in several applications and concealed his own criminal history. To support the fraudulent applications, the complaint alleges that Shibley submitted fake tax documents and the names of purported employees who did not, in fact, work for the businesses for which Shibley claimed they worked. The complaint alleges that Shibley fraudulently sought over $3 million in PPP loans.

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted March 29. It is designed to provide emergency financial assistance to millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act is the authorization of up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses through the PPP. In April 2020, Congress authorized over $300 billion in additional PPP funding.

Shibley appeared before a federal magistrate on Tuesday and is out on bond. The charging documents say:

According to records available on the Washington State Department of Health website, the status of SHIBLEY’s license to practice medicine is identified as “summary restriction” due to allegations of unprofessional conduct. … According to records from the Anacortes Municipal Court, located in Anacortes, Washington, SHIBLEY pled guilty to a Violation of a No Contact Order, a criminal misdemeanor under Washington State law, on December 13, 2018 and was sentenced to a jail term of 364 days, with 334 days suspended, a $5,000 fine, and two years’ probation.

That factored into the charges, which allege that he was asked on a loan application if he was currently on probation or parole and answered no, which would have disqualified him. The charges allege that he applied for PPP loans – which under certain circumstances don’t have to be paid back – in the name of 12 different entities. Much of the documentation focuses on a construction company, the name of which Shibley is accused of using to open multiple bank accounts, and seeking a PPP loan for $563,500 on the same day of a 90 percent ownership-interest transfer to him. The charging papers say investigators found the construction company “has no apparent employees for which it pays federal payroll taxes and (that a form) Shibley provided in support of the PPP loan application is fake.” The loan, however, was approved (and later canceled).

26 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Doctor charged with federal crimes, accused of fraudulently seeking $3 million in coronavirus-relief loans"

  • Alki resident July 1, 2020 (6:14 pm)

    I’m glad this was caught before receiving any money. This won’t end well for him, holy crap. 

  • SMH July 1, 2020 (6:37 pm)

    Wow! Any one know this guy? SMH

    • LiouxLioux July 1, 2020 (8:44 pm)

      His office’s social media pages are really creepy.  Uses only stock photos and more #hashtags than a pumped up MLM boss-babe. 

      • SMH July 1, 2020 (10:40 pm)

        No kidding, just looked at it. Did you look at all his reviews over past couple years? Crazy to say the least. He actually replies to each bad review with nasty remarks and the good reviews are obviously fake from him self. My word.

        • WS REZZ July 2, 2020 (11:59 am)

          SMH I just looked and holy cowwwwwwwwwwww, he does not seem professional AT ALL. For many reasons, clearly. But dang, can’t take any constructive criticism apparently… 

          • CAM July 2, 2020 (1:08 pm)

            Even better, HIPAA would prevent him from revealing if any of those reviews were from legitimate patients or not. So his whole calling out a “fake review” thing is actually pretty dangerous behavior for him to engage in. 

          • Joe July 7, 2020 (10:59 am)

            I was a patient of his and he was billing my insurance company the whole time I was paying cash for visits. Most worst doctor around, surprised it took this long to catch up to him…scum

    • FormerWSite July 2, 2020 (1:04 am)

      This guy is a PIECE OF WORK. As I read the article, I kept wondering how I knew the name. Was it the ex-husband of someone I knew? No. Was it a doctor’s office I was familiar with? No. As soon as I did a search for his name, I realized who he was. Several months ago I passed a property for rent along Des Moines Memorial and called the number posted on a sign outside. The person who answered was Eric Shibley. I could tell from talking to him that he was a slick one. He said he had many properties that were all fabulously remodeled [note: in questionable areas] and aggressively tried to get me to rent one by imploring me to stop by his office and pick up an application. My husband listened to the conversation and immediately said, “No way.” I looked up his name and found his reviews. Then I found out that the Washington Medical Commission restricted his license. Article with links here. Crazy. He should do time.

  • flimflam July 1, 2020 (8:50 pm)

    wow, classy move, Dr….

  • Beanie July 1, 2020 (10:04 pm)

    Wow, that is a long list of fraudulent activity! How sad at a time when so many other businesses are trying to do the right thing and support actual employees. 

  • Dang July 1, 2020 (10:45 pm)

    This guy’s reviews at his so called practice are crazy! He actually replies to each one with nasty remarks and writes his own fake 5 star. LOL SMH

  • West Sea local July 2, 2020 (12:13 am)

    Wowza, is there no ethics requirements to be a medical professional. That’s awful. 

  • Curate July 2, 2020 (1:27 am)

    Hello, Washington Medical Commission? You’ve let a really bad egg slip through the cracks. Nab this guy and yank that license for good! He is a walking personification of both malpractice and criminal conduct. Yikes.

  • Curious July 2, 2020 (8:08 am)

    a cursory search on the google machine pulls up a few court documents which will reveal just what kind of guy this joker is. . .I am very surprised he was able to operate as a medical professional in any capacity after the stunts he’s pulled 

  • Mj July 2, 2020 (9:52 am)

    Wow this person is certainly ethically challenged.  

  • grateful daughter July 2, 2020 (11:14 am)

    I know this guy. He was my dad’s doctor and charged him cash and billed medicare and tried to keep my dad away from his kids, saying we were going to institutionalize him. We extricated my dad from him, but I have been afraid of reporting him because he goes after people who do, and at the same time I’ve felt horrible for not warning other people. This is a good day for anyone who’s had anything to do with this creep.

    • Lagartija Nick July 2, 2020 (1:39 pm)

      You should definitely report him now. The more charges he’s faced with the longer he’ll be in prison if convicted. And if he tries to retaliate, they can nail him on that too. Good luck and really sorry your family had to deal with this creep.

    • Shocked July 2, 2020 (3:52 pm)

      Sorry you had to go through that! Please report him ASAP . Best wishes

    • Joe July 7, 2020 (11:01 am)

      This doctor was charging me cash and billing my Medicare at the same time. I reported him but have no idea how he got away with it for so long. I refused him cash payment and he let me withdrawl on the medication I was on. Awful ethics. Scumbag

    • Joe July 7, 2020 (11:02 am)

      He did the same exact thing to me also

  • Magpie July 2, 2020 (4:00 pm)

    I know a person who was convicted of financial fraud concerning Hurricane Katrina. If this crime is considered as serious as that, they will really throw the book at him.  He’ll be lucky if he is convicted and only gets 10 years. 

  • Two Hundred Dollars July 2, 2020 (6:27 pm)

    I just called his office (6pm on the eve of a holiday) and he answered. My line of questioning, asking about an appointment to discuss weight loss and alcohol addiction counseling. He gave a number of non-specifics when I asked about his treatment after he seemed over eager to schedule me ASAP. When I asked “what should I bring?”, where I expected something like “medical records” or “insurance information” or something similar, he said “two hundred dollars”.

    Never been party to such a specifically money-driven medial pursuit. I’m sugar-coating what I really think, but I’m sure it is obvious. His office is still open, apparently, and he’ll take any patient who contacts him no matter how sarcastic they sound.    

  • Shadowtripper July 2, 2020 (9:06 pm)

    This so called “Doctor” bought Dr. Douglas Hom’s medical practice a couple years ago.  Ran it into the ground, destroyed all previous patience’s medical records (including mine) unless you were lucky enough to aquire them right away, and has no remorse for anything.   After that he opened a narcotic treatment practice in same leased building…West Seattle, that failed.  He had so many red flags a couple years ago, including malpractice or close to it, that I never went in to see him.   Although a neighbor did once, but was quickly turned off by his shoddy skills and medical advice.  This guy is a criminal and deserves to spend time in prison.     

  • FINALLY!! July 6, 2020 (5:58 pm)

    I know this a—ole. Many of the responses I see here re:  past dealings with Eric Shibley very much mirror my experience. I worked with Dr. Hom in the months leading up to the ownership transition to Eric Shibley. I would like to note that Dr. Hom was one of the best physicians I have worked with in my decades long career. He was kind, had ethics to the ceiling, cared very deeply about his patient’s, still made house calls (yeah. I know right?), and never refused service to someone in need. Dr. Hom was amazing. To say Eric Shibley is 100% the opposite of Dr. Hom would be a gross understatement. Furthermore, there really is not a word to describe how terrible he is. In every way. He’s a liar, a thief and a fraud (obviously). In addition, he was abusive to patient’s, arrogant, selfish, creepy, frequently mentioned his disdain for women, police officers, liberal individuals, etc. I could go on for days. I’m no psychiatrist, but he’s likely a sociopath.After Dr. Hom retired and I made Eric Shibley aware that; I quit, had already reported him to Medicare, the DEA and the DOH, I was met with months of harassment, multiple threats and stalking, so much so that I had to petition for a restraining order, this was in 2015.It saddens me that it has taken this long to see him be removed from practicing in our community. Especially for the many people I can guarantee he victimized during the interim, post multiple reports from several other staff members and neighbor’s. The full investigation reports are available at the link below: https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/providercredentialsearch/I am thankful that he is such an idiot. Who knows how long it could have been before the state actually took away his license entirely. I’ve been waiting for this for years. A sentiment that I feel is safe to say is shared by many.Unfortunately evil people come in all disguises, shapes, sizes, professions, etc.  As a silver lining, I hope that as a community, we can celebrate that Eric Shibley’s time of hurting and taking advantage of; our neighbor’s, friends and family members is over. Let us continue to be watchful. If you see something, say something. I’m very thankful he will not be able to do this to anyone else. I hope he gets the max sentence. It’ll be a drop in the bucket of what he deserves. 

  • Screwed by this guy July 15, 2020 (4:42 am)

    We were unfortunantely sucked up into his web of deceipt. I signed a lease that wasn’t legal in the first place. By the time we were already too far into the deal to turn back (given him first, last and deposit) we realized he had just been spinning lies and we were being totally played. The place he had switched us to was, by law, not inhabitable. He tried to make deals with me to do work on the place with crazy unrealistic timelines and changed the amount he would knock off rent saying I cost him thousands by not having the work done within his delusional fairy tail timeline. So we got together and compared notes with our upstairs neighbor. He had broken into that unit and tried to change the locks. He moved a couple of junkies into our garage who went through all of our stored belongings and were shooting up in there. We called the cops on him every time. When the covid shutdown hit and we stopped paying him rent, he had our gas orderd to be shut off as dangerous. He tried unsuccesfully to have our electricity shut off (sent someone to come onto the property to steal the meter). I could keep going. This guy is the worst piece of $%*# slumlord anyone could ever even dream up. He’ll get his @$$ handed to him with this one though. Good job doc! 

  • Furor Scribendi July 18, 2020 (10:49 pm)

    This individual has had cases at US bankruptcy court. Interesting and sobering reading. No one is beyond redemption but he has an unscrupulous track record and must be thoroughly investigated. 

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