California judge bilked state out of thousands with sham company, banned doctor: feds
By Jeremy Louwerse
Published Jan. 7, 2026, 7:53 p.m. ET
This time he won’t be the one banging the gavel.
A California judge used a sham company to scam the state out of thousands of dollars using fraudulent workers comp payments and a doctor banned from the program, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A corrupt judge and former prosecutor who put away murders and carjackers, is now facing his own time behind bars after he agreed to plead guilty in an alleged scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Golden State, according to the DOJ.
Israel Claustro and Katrina Foley holding a framed document in a courtroom.
The scam started when Israel Claustro was a prosecutor.
Orange County Superior Court judge Israel Claustro, 50, agreed to resign and plead guilty to a federal mail fraud charge — which could land him behind bars for up to 20 years, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
https://nypost.com/2026/01/07/us-news/california-judge-to-plead-guilty-in-massive-workers-comp-fraud-scheme/
