California judge bilked state out of thousands with sham company, banned doctor: feds

This time he received’t be the one banging the gavel.

A California choose used a sham firm to rip-off the state out of hundreds of {dollars} utilizing fraudulent employees comp funds and a physician banned from this system, prosecutors stated Wednesday.

A corrupt choose and former prosecutor who put away murders and carjackers, is now dealing with his personal time behind bars after he agreed to plead responsible in an alleged scheme to steal a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} from the Golden State, in keeping with the DOJ.

Orange County Superior Court docket choose Israel Claustro, 50, agreed to resign and plead responsible to a federal mail fraud cost — which might land him behind bars for as much as 20 years, in keeping with the US Lawyer’s Workplace for the Central District of California.

The rip-off began when Claustro — who was then a prosecutor — opened medical firm Liberty Medical Group though he wasn’t a doctor or a medical skilled as required beneath state legislation, prosecutors stated..  

He then employed a disgraced physician, Kevin Tien Do who had misplaced his license after being convicted in 2003 of felony well being care fraud for $300,000, the US Lawyer stated.

The 2 conspired collectively to organize false experiences for California’s Subsequent Accidents Advantages Belief Fund (SIBTF), a particular fund administered to offer extra compensation to injured employees. 

Based mostly on these fraudulent submitted experiences, Liberty acquired a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} from SIBTF, the lawyer stated.

“Choose Claustro violated the legislation for his private monetary profit,” stated First Assistant United States Lawyer Invoice Essayli. “We is not going to hesitate to prosecute anybody – judges included – who defraud public advantages supposed to assist these in want.”

Claustro was a prosecutor in Orange County for practically 20 years, supervising critical, high-profile circumstances involving homicide, sexual battery, youngster abuse and political corruption, in keeping with the Asian Occasions.

“I imagine that serving as a choose requires humility, an open thoughts, independence, and dedication to the very best moral requirements of the legislation,” he advised the publication when he was operating for choose in 2022.

Do has already pleaded responsible in January 2025 to 1 depend of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one depend of subscribing to a false tax return. He’s anticipated to be sentenced within the coming months.

Claustro will make his preliminary court docket look on Jan.12.