Notorious NC entrepreneur swindled $3.5M in loans for illegal Airbnbs, Vrbos, feds say
A handyman who rose to fame on a local Facebook group and became a property manager for vacation rentals in Western North Carolina is facing criminal charges after federal prosecutors said he lied on more than a dozen applications for real estate loans.
The charges are the latest in a string of allegations against Shawn Thomas Johnson involving vacation rentals in the Asheville area.
Johnson was charged with bank fraud in the Western District of North Carolina on March 11 and is expected to plead guilty later this month, federal court documents show. He’s accused of finagling more than $3.5 million in real estate loans by lying to banks and skirting local ordinances that barred him from listing many of the properties he bought as short-term vacation rentals.
Defense attorneys representing Johnson did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on March 15.
Johnson became a local celebrity working as a handyman in 2015. He was known as “Shawn of All Trades” on the private Facebook page West Asheville Exchange, where he garnered “a reputation as a hard-working handyman, able and willing to tackle all sorts of chores,” the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.
Johnson got his real estate broker’s license the same year and began managing vacation properties in Buncombe County. He was even featured on a 2016 panel of local entrepreneurs discussing “alternative and innovative ways” to earn a living, according to the Citizen-Times.
Then, in 2019, the North Carolina Real Estate Commission revoked Johnson’s broker’s license, saying he had been pocketing money owed to property owners whose vacation homes he managed and rented on Airbnb without the correct city permits.
The allegations centered on at least nine properties he reportedly managed without an agreement in place and another three houses he rented within the Asheville city limits without a permit, according to commission records.
But Johnson’s troubles didn’t end there.
At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the Asheville Police Department announced there was a warrant for Johnson’s arrest on charges he violated COVID-19 emergency restrictions by repeatedly leasing out a rental home for non-essential travel in West Asheville.
Johnson commented several times on the police department’s Facebook post regarding the charges, quipping, “Y’all think I can get a reward?”
He later turned himself in.
The most recent accusations stem from allegations surrounding how Johnson managed to purchase several of the vacation properties he manages.
Prosecutors said Johnson conducted his business under at least two dozen corporate entities. They said he began buying up properties in 2012 to list on sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo by lying to banks about his finances and the intended use of the homes as short-term rentals.
Local ordinances and zoning regulations barred many of the homes he bought from being used as vacation properties — meaning the banks would not have approved the loans if they knew, the government said.
It wasn’t clear if Johnson still has listings on Vrbo, and a representative from the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But a spokesperson for Airbnb confirmed Johnson’s account and associated listings were removed in 2019.
Johnson submitted his own mortgage applications as well as recruited others to buy houses on his behalf, court documents state. He reportedly offered to split the rental proceeds with the owners and kept his name off the loan applications so banks were in the dark about his financial interest.
From August 2012 to November 2019, Johnson is accused of lying to get at least 16 real estate loans totaling more than $3.5 million.
Court documents show a plea hearing for Johnson is scheduled on March 25.
