Israel Claustro: Fraud Plea, Censure, and Return to Practice

Israel Claustro is a former Orange County Superior Court judge who pleaded guilty in January 2026 to a federal mail fraud charge for paying a suspended doctor more than $300,000 to prepare workers’ compensation medical reports and then hiding the doctor’s involvement on billing documents. He resigned from the bench the day he entered his plea and was later censured and permanently barred from ever serving as a California judge again.

What the Fraud Involved

Claustro, a licensed attorney, owned and ran Liberty Medical Group Inc., a Rancho Cucamonga medical corporation, while also working as a prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. California law bars non-physicians from owning medical corporations, and Claustro did not obtain the outside-employment approval his office requires.¹²

The doctor at the center of the scheme was Kevin Tien Do, a Pasadena physician who had been convicted of federal health care fraud in 2003 and suspended from California’s workers’ compensation program in October 2018 as a result. Do had started working for Liberty in 2016. Federal prosecutors said the conspiracy ran from October 2018 through February 2023.³

Knowing about the suspension, Claustro kept paying Do to prepare medical evaluations, record reviews, and med-legal reports for the state’s Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. To conceal Do’s involvement, he had Liberty list other doctors’ names on the billing forms and reports mailed to the fund. Liberty received more than $3 million from the trust fund over the course of the scheme. Prosecutors attributed a specific loss of about $38,670 to Claustro’s personal participation, and noted that he paid Do more than $300,000 for post-suspension work.¹

The Federal Charge and Plea Deal

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California charged Claustro by information on January 7, 2026, with one count of mail fraud, which carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in federal prison. He had signed the plea agreement on December 8, 2025. The case was filed as U.S. v. Israel Claustro, No. 8:26-cr-00001-FWS.¹

Under the agreement, the Justice Department agreed to recommend probation with home confinement rather than prison, with the confinement period set at the low end of the applicable federal guidelines range. Claustro also agreed to resign from the bench.⁴

He entered his guilty plea at his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on January 12, 2026, and resigned that same day.⁵ His attorney, Paul S. Meyer, said Claustro “deeply regrets” the conduct, “takes full responsibility for his actions, and cooperated fully in the investigation,” and described the venture as separate from his work as a prosecutor or judge.⁶ First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Claustro “violated the law for his personal financial benefit” and added: “We will not hesitate to prosecute anyone — judges included — who defraud public benefits intended to help those in need.”¹ Sentencing was scheduled for June 26, 2026.

Censure and Permanent Bar From the Bench

Claustro had won a 2022 Orange County Superior Court election and received an interim appointment from Governor Gavin Newsom in November 2022 to fill an early vacancy. He was assigned to family court.⁷ The fraud predated his time on the bench but overlapped with his years as a prosecutor.

On March 24, 2026, California’s Commission on Judicial Performance issued a public censure and permanent bar, meaning Claustro can never serve as a judge in the state again. The discipline came through a stipulated agreement in which he waived further proceedings and review by the California Supreme Court. The commission found two grounds: his felony conviction, which brings the judicial office into disrepute under the California Constitution, and his failure to promptly report the federal charges to the commission, a violation of Canon 3D(3) of the Code of Judicial Ethics. The commission noted the underlying conduct occurred before he became a judge and did not involve his practice of law.⁸

Law License and Return to Practice

The bar from judicial office did not stop Claustro from practicing law. His California law license had been deactivated during his time on the bench, and it was reactivated on January 10, 2026, two days before he entered his guilty plea. Within days of the plea, Southern California News Group reporting indicated he appeared to have resumed practicing.⁹

The State Bar of California said it could not open a formal disciplinary investigation until the criminal case concluded, though it added a consumer alert to Claustro’s online profile after the news group’s inquiry. His plea agreement does not prohibit him from practicing law.⁵

The Co-Defendant Doctor

Kevin Tien Do pleaded guilty in January 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return in connection with the same scheme.³ As of mid-2026, Do had not been sentenced.¹⁰

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Orange County Judge Agrees to Plead Guilty to Knowingly Paying Convicted Doctor to Work on Workers’ Comp Cases Despite Suspension
2
Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Statement on Federal Charges Filed Against Israel Claustro
3
U.S. Department of Justice. Pasadena Doctor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Conspiring With Attorney to Bilk More Than $3 Million
4
Metropolitan News-Enterprise. OC Judge Agrees to Plead Guilty
5
East Bay Times. Former OC Judge Convicted in Fraud Scheme Appears to Be Practicing Law Again
6
KTLA. Southern California Judge Faces Up to 2 Decades in Prison for Fraud
7
East Bay Times. Orange County Judge Makes First Appearance in Federal Court for Workers’ Comp Fraud
8
Commission on Judicial Performance. Claustro Stipulation for Discipline by Consent – Censure and Bar
9
OC Register. Former OC Judge Convicted in Fraud Scheme Appears to Be Practicing Law Again
10
Voice of OC. OC Superior Court Judge Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Resigns