Wirral-born Mr El Paraiso was known as Adam Minett when he was jailed in 2009 for a £25,000 theft and fraud of customers of his plumbing firm.
He had also tried to impersonate his landlord to take out two loans in his name and was, a judge said, guilty of a “prolonged campaign of serious dishonesty”.
When he came out of jail, having served just over a year of his four-year sentence, he went away to work at sea.
The BBC has learned he lied to maritime colleagues that he had been in the armed forces.
He set up Urban Evolution after returning to Merseyside in about 2016, and later told some of its customers that while away at sea he had been the captain of superyachts, including one owned by Bono and The Edge from U2.
The BBC has established he had one tour on board the U2 stars’ yacht as a chief mate in late 2014 and early 2015, but was not its captain.
When challenged by the BBC in February, he admitted to being Mr Minett but denied that he had changed his name to hide his criminal past, saying that he did so for personal reasons.
