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Former Orange County Superior Court Judge Israel Claustro will not see jail time after he pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this year, with a federal judge sentencing him to one year of probation and a $5,000 fine. 

Paul Meyer, Claustro’s attorney, called the decision a “just result,” in a Thursday statement.  

“We appreciate the careful evaluation by the government and the fair sentence by the Court,” Meyer wrote. 

The case came after Claustro resigned his judgeship and pleaded guilty to working with a doctor to defraud a California workers comp program in a signed plea agreement. 

To read the complete plea agreement, click here. 

Read: OC Superior Court Judge Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Resigns

In a separate statement to Judge John Holcomb before sentencing, Claustro also apologized for his actions. 

“I deceived the people of the State of California so I could continue to earn extra income,” Claustro wrote. “My conduct was wrong and I realize that it contributed to ever-increasing public cynicism about government institutions.” 

To read Claustro’s full letter to the judge, click here. 

According to federal prosecutors, Claustro owned a company called Liberty Medical Group Inc., and employed a Dr. Kevin Tien Do Do by April 2016. 

But in 2017, Do was suspended from working as a physician in any worker’s comp program by the state 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. 

“In 2018, I learned that he (Do) was suspended from conducting workers compensation medical evaluations because he had a felony conviction for health care fraud fifteen years earlier. I had not previously known about his felony conviction.” Claustro wrote. “In hindsight, I should have ended our business relationship after learning about his prior conviction. However, Dr. Do convinced me that the conviction was not a reflection of his character.” 

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 were then submitted to the worker’s comp program under other doctors’ names, according to prosecutors and Claustro’s own statements.  

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.

In a letter to Judge John Holcomb, who ultimately sentenced him, Claustro said he was “sincerely remorseful,” for his actions, crediting them to a fear of financial instability after growing up poor. 

“I knew at the time it was wrong but rationalized that my deceit was not a major issue because the workers had sustained serious injuries, Dr. Do was a competent doctor, and the medical reports accurately documented the workers’ injuries,” Claustro wrote. 

After the case, Claustro’s lawyers claimed he plans to continue working in the legal field in their filings to the judge. 

“He is currently employed as an attorney,” reads the federal filing, “but expects to be disbarred and thereafter work as a legal assistant for substantially less income.”

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.