Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Page 1
Former O.C. Judge Receives Censure, Bar for Defrauding Workers’ Compensation Fund
By a MetNews Staff Writer
|
|
|
ISRAEL CLAUSTRO former superior court judge |
The Commission on Judicial Performance yesterday imposed a public censure and a lifetime bar on future judicial service on former Orange Superior Court Judge Israel Claustro, 50, who resigned in January after signing an agreement to plead guilty to a single charge of felony mail fraud relating to accusations that he fleeced a state workers’ compensation fund before he took office.
Claustro signed a stipulation agreeing to the disciplinary actions on Feb. 25, resolving an investigation initiated by the commission after the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal charges against him.
According to the January information, Claustro filed doctored reports with California’s Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (“SIBTF”), an account administered by the state’s workers’ compensation program to allow recovery by employees who have an existing disability at the time of an asserted injury, on behalf of Liberty Medical Group Inc., a health care corporation he controlled despite holding no medical credentials.
False Reports
Claustro is said to have paid Dr. Kevin Tien Do, a physician who had been suspended from participating in the workers’ compensation program due to a 2003 conviction for felony health care fraud, approximately $300,000 to prepare medical evaluations and other reports that were submitted to SIBTF bearing the names of other doctors.
Between 2018 and 2022, the state fund purportedly paid Liberty more than $3 million for billings associated with reports that were allegedly created by Do but which bore the names of other professionals. Prosecutors say that $38,670 of those payouts relate to documents that Claustro knew bore fraudulent attributions.
Claustro, who secured 72.3% of the vote in the June 2022 primary and was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that November to an interim position that allowed him to take office two months early, was working as an Orange County deputy district attorney at the time of his purported participation in the scheme. He pled guilty to one count of mail fraud and resigned in January.
Judicial Disrepute
In yesterday’s filing, the commission said:
“Former Judge Claustro’s commission of one felony mail fraud offense, before he was a judicial officer, constitutes conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute….”
Adding that he “failed to promptly report to the commission when he was charged” with the crimes, the body declared:
“Commission of a felony, regardless of the underlying facts of the crime, is a sufficient basis upon which to impose a censure and bar.”
Claustro, who campaigned on his ability to help “foster trust in the American judicial system,” graduated from Western State University College of Law. He is awaiting sentencing in the criminal matter.
His State Bar records show that he returned to, and remains on, active status as of Jan. 10. A consumer alert has been added to his profile informing the public that he has been charged with a felony.
Copyright 2026, Metropolitan News Company