An Orange County decide resigned Wednesday and declared his intent to plead responsible subsequent week to defrauding a state fund out of hundreds of {dollars}.
Israel Claustro, 50, who touted his capability to assist “foster belief within the American justice system” throughout his 2022 judicial marketing campaign, agreed to plead responsible to at least one rely of mail fraud at his subsequent court docket date Monday in U.S. Central District Court docket in Santa Ana.
“Choose Claustro violated the regulation for his private monetary profit,” First Assistant U.S. Atty. Invoice Essayli mentioned in a press release. “We won’t hesitate to prosecute anybody — judges included — who defraud public advantages meant to assist these in want.”
Claustro’s Costa Mesa-based lawyer, Paul S. Meyer, mentioned of his shopper in an emailed assertion: “He takes full accountability for his actions, and cooperated totally within the investigation. In good religion, with disappointment, he’s voluntarily resigning his judicial workplace.”
Within the plea settlement, signed Wednesday, the U.S. legal professional’s workplace is asking for dwelling confinement as Claustro’s punishment.
The crime carries a statutory most sentence of 20 years in federal jail, in response to the workplace, and fines totaling tens of hundreds of {dollars}.
A decide will finally resolve his sentence.
Claustro based a medical company, Liberty Medical Group of Rancho Cucamonga, in November 2015 although he had no formal medical background, in response to the plea settlement. California regulation requires house owners of medical companies to be licensed in medication or a associated discipline.
The next April, he opened a enterprise checking account with Kevin Tien Do, a health care provider, worker and participant within the fraud, in response to the plea settlement.
By October of that yr, Do and different medical doctors working for Liberty started billing California’s Subsequent Accidents Advantages Belief Fund, a employees’ compensation fund for people already disabled or impaired on the time of a office harm, in response to the plea settlement.
Liberty’s practitioners supplied medical authorized evaluations, in response to court docket paperwork.
By August 2017, nevertheless, Do was issued a discover by the Division of Employees’ Compensation of its intent to droop him for a earlier fraud case, in response to the plea settlement.
Do served a one-year federal jail sentence in 2003 for felony healthcare fraud.
This conviction led to his suspension in October 2017 from collaborating within the belief fund program, in response to the plea settlement.
Do knowledgeable Claustro of his formal suspension in April 2018. Do appealed however finally had his indefinite suspension upheld by the California Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board in October 2018, in response to the plea settlement.
Nonetheless, Claustro nonetheless paid Do $306,000 for medical evaluations and studies carried out after his suspension, in response to court docket paperwork.
Do employed a medical skilled, recognized in court docket paperwork solely as T.D., to carry out affected person evaluations throughout his suspension, in response to court docket paperwork. T.D., nevertheless, didn’t help in preparation or assessment of medical authorized studies despatched to the belief fund, in response to court docket paperwork.
T.D. finally died of pure causes in December 2021, in response to court docket paperwork.
Reviews ready by Do after his suspension included the names of different medical doctors when the billing paperwork had been despatched to the belief fund, in response to the plea settlement.
Claustro paid $38,670 of the $306,000 to Do understanding he, and never one other medical practitioner, was offering the companies, in response to court docket paperwork.
For his half, Do pleaded responsible in January 2025 to at least one rely of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one rely of subscribing to a false tax return. He’s nonetheless awaiting his sentencing.
Do continued to be reimbursed by the state till spring 2022, in response to court docket paperwork.
Round that point, Claustro served as an Orange County prosecutor and was campaigning to develop into a county Superior Court docket decide. Claustro cruised to an outright victory within the June 2022 main, beating challenger Kevin Brian Jones, 72% to twenty-eight%.
His message all through his marketing campaign centered on his humble roots because the son of Mexican immigrants with a third-grade schooling.
“Claustro didn’t observe established OCDA workplace coverage which requires approval of any exterior employment, a process which is meant to safeguard in opposition to potential conflicts of curiosity,” Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer mentioned in a press release.
He added that Claustro “betrayed his place of belief as a public servant in probably the most deceitful approach by stealing public advantages from those that wanted them probably the most, and he did so whereas masquerading as a warrior for fact and justice on behalf of the Folks of California.”
