A Fontana man who scammed eight women into false investments was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison March 28.
Ze’Shawn Campbell pleaded guilty in October to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
A memorandum submitted by Campbell’s attorney, Pat Harris, claimed that Campbell was maligned through social media and that the FBI failed to properly investigate Campbell’s actions.
Harris claimed Campbell paid back the funds, and gave some of the women more money than they gave to him.
“When he was doing well in business and successful at the gambling table, he would buy them cars, expensive jewelry, pay their rent and phone bills and even invested money in a business that one of the women asked him to invest in. Unlike how he has been portrayed, he was not a serial scam artist who never worked and just lived off women he dated,” the memo says.
The memo continued to say that Campbell is a hard worker who is used to working two jobs, but who was driven about presenting an image of wealth and became addicted to gambling.
Prosecutors said Campbell scammed women that he was dating between 2014 and 2020. Campbell’s memo said he had no romantic relationship with three of them, and that one payment was actually repayment for home repairs that Campbell had spotted his brother for.
Campbell would tell his victims he was a millionaire operator of a Texan gym chain, multiple McDonald’s franchises and a security company, his plea agreement said. He also said he invested in real estate and Bitcoin, and that he was a Navy SEAL veteran who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the agreement said.
He scammed his victims of over $550,000, which he said would be used to fund investments, support his businesses and pay his medical bills, but which he actually used to buy luxury items.
One $61,452 check, which he claimed to use on Bitcoin, was used to pay off a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz that Campbell had leased in another person’s name.
Campbell used his victims’ names to apply for loans and credit cards without their knowledge, the plea agreement says.
The indictment lists five transfers from his victims that totalled $261,000.
“(Campbell) is a con man and a predator. He develops romantic relationships with his victims and then, exploiting the intimacy and trust he cultivates, lies to them to get their money,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
“Most of (Campbell’s) individual victims were women he began dating, encouraging their affection only to exploit it and leave their self esteem, as well as their finances, in tatters,” prosecutors continued.
Harris, Campbell’s attorney, said that the FBI unquestionably accepted the word of one of Campbell’s ex-girlfriends, who shared her story on YouTube June 8, 2019.
Jessica Giselle, a YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers, posted a vlog about Campbell with the title “Story time| I WAS SCAMMED BY MY OWN BOYFRIEND! Relationship Scammer| Single Mom Vlog.” She said she was introduced by a mutual friend, and that Campbell brought her a new iPhone on their first date.
“It turned out that Ze’Shawn Stanley Campbell is a scammer. He’s a relationship scammer. He’s a con artist. He’s a liar. He’s a sociopath. He’s a psychopath,” Giselle said in the vlog.
She said Campbell lied about having cancer, and shared faked texts he said was from a doctor.
Giselle said she pulled $63,000 out of her IRA for Campbell to invest in Bitcoin that was never paid back, and that Campbell left vacation tabs for her to pay.
Harris wrote in his sentencing memorandum that Campbell paid the money back, and also gifted her Laker basketball tickets, watches and dinners.
A 2015 medical document attached to Harris’ memo shows that Harris did have a history of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Harris said the FBI did not interview one of the alleged victims, who was Campbell’s sister-in-law, but that the FBI added her deposit of $89,000 into the alleged scams. The $89,000 was actually from Campbell’s brother, who wanted to repay Campbell for lending the couple money for house repairs, the woman wrote in a letter to the court.
“(To) say I was disappointed when I saw (Giselle’s) YouTube video is an understatement, that was an (sic) character assassination and no way the truth on how (Campbell) treated her in the few months they dated,” Harris wrote.
Harris also said that one of the alleged victim’s credit card statements disproved her claim that Campbell ruined her credit. That woman claimed Campbell drove a Lamborghini when they were dating. Harris said Campbell did not own a Lamborghini at the time they dated, and suggested that the woman fabricated her story.
Campbell was originally charged by a grand jury on nine counts: five counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud, one count of identity theft and one count of money laundering.
Campbell continues to deny the identity theft charge, and refused to plead guilty to it, his memo said.
The indictment says Campbell carried out his fraud in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Case No. 2:21-cr-00099-MCS
Tracy L. Wilkison represented the United States, with Ranee A. Katzenstein and Poonam G. Kumar.
Read the indictment here.
Read the plea agreement here.
Read Campbell’s sentencing memorandum here.
Read the government’s sentencing memorandum here.
