D.A. Looking for More Victims in Alleged Clothing Line Scam

The Orange County district attorney is looking for more alleged victims of the Ezekial co-founder who is charged with defrauding investors in a fake clothing line scheme. 

Shaine Joseph LaVoie, 41, of Dana Point, is accused of spending $800,000 in allegedly stolen money on rent, expensive gifts and luxury items for him and his girlfriend.

He has been indicted on four felony counts of grand theft, two felony counts of theft from an elder, two felony counts of using an untrue statement in purchase or sale of a security and one felony count of writing insufficient-funds check. 

If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of seven years and four months in state prison. He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing May 6.

In 1992, LaVoie co-founded the skateboarding clothing company Ezekial. A year after leaving the company in 2003, authorities say, he convinced friends and acquaintances to invest in a fraudulent $1-million scheme that he said involved a large shipment of designer jeans being sold to a Japanese buyer. La Voie allegedly said the deal would close in less than three months with up to a 100 percent profit.

Prosecutors say that when investors began to contact LaVoie for payment on their investments, he lied that the shipment had been delayed due to customs problems. He is accused of creating a Ponzi scheme to pay back early investors with new investors' money.

Three years later, in 2007, prosecutors say, LaVoie convinced two separate people to invest $14,200 in a nonexistent clothing line called Agnus with the promise of high returns. He allegedly never payed back the victims back for their "investment." He is also accused of writing a bad check from a closed account for $15,000 to one of the victims.

Anyone with additional information or who believes they have been a victim is asked to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Eric Akerlind at 714-347-8691.