OC Superior Court Judge Israel Claustro resigned Wednesday after federal prosecutors announced he agreed to plead guilty to fraud for working with a doctor to defraud the state’s worker’s comp program.
In his signed plea agreement, Claustro admitted he worked with Dr. Kevin Tien Do to defraud the state’s Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, which is aimed at offering “additional compensation to injured workers who already had a disability or impairment at the time of a subsequent injury,” according to the plea agreement.
To read the complete plea agreement, click here.
Claustro announced he was “voluntarily resigning” on Wednesday morning in a statement through his attorney Paul Meyer, saying he “deeply regrets” his past actions and denying they had any connection to his work as a judge or previously as a prosecutor.
“He takes full responsibility for his actions, and cooperated fully in the investigation,” Meyer wrote. “In good faith, with sadness, he is voluntarily resigning his judicial office.”
Do’s attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
According to federal prosecutors, Claustro owned a company called Liberty Medical Group Inc., and Do was working there by April 2016.
But in 2017, Do was suspended from participating as a physician in any worker’s comp program because he was convicted of healthcare fraud in 2003 and served a year in prison – a fact prosecutors say Claustro was aware of when he hired him.
Despite Do being cut out of the worker’s comp program, Claustro still paid him over $300,000 to set up medical evaluations and med-legal reports, which federal prosecutors say were then submitted to the worker’s comp program under other doctors’ names.
According to prosecutors, only around $38,000 of funds from the worker’s comp program were paid out after Claustro knew Do was not eligible to submit those reports and that they were submitted under false names.
“The parties agree that for purposes of this plea agreement, the applicable loss amount for Guidelines purposes from defendant’s participation in this scheme to defraud is approximately $38,670, which is the amount of funds SIBTF paid to Liberty paid for reports that defendant knew Co-schemer Do had drafted after being suspended,” prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement.
While Claustro could be sentenced for up to 20 years in prison for mail fraud, prosecutors agreed to “recommend that defendant be sentenced to a term of probation with a condition of home confinement in lieu of imprisonment,” as part of Claustro’s plea agreement.
The plea agreement also noted that Claustro could be prosecuted for criminal tax violations, with prosecutors noting the FBI, IRS and the California Department of Insurance are investigating Claustro as well.
Do also pleaded guilty to submitting a false tax return and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in January 2025, but has not yet been sentenced.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
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