Former Judge Israel Claustro served on the Orange County Superior Court from 2022 until his resignation on January 12, 2026. His departure from the bench was precipitated by federal criminal charges.
On January 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed charges against Claustro in U.S. v. Israel Claustro, No. 8:26-cr-00001-FWS (C.D. Cal.), for his role — before he became a judge — in a scheme to defraud the California Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. The fraud did not involve his practice of law.
Five days later, on January 12, 2026, Claustro pleaded guilty to one felony count of mail fraud and agreed to immediately resign from the bench. He had not yet been sentenced as of the date of the stipulation.
According to the plea agreement, Claustro – who was an Orange County prosecutor at the time of the fraud – operated Liberty Medical Group Inc., a Rancho Cucamonga-based medical corporation, despite being neither a physician nor a medical professional as required under California law.
One of Liberty’s employees was Dr. Kevin Tien Do, 60, of Pasadena, a physician who had served a one-year federal prison sentence after being convicted in 2003 of felony health care fraud. Because of this conviction, in October 2018, Do was suspended from participating in the California’s workers’ compensation program. Claustro was aware of Do’s prior criminal conviction and suspension from California’s workers’ compensation program.
According to the plea agreement, Claustro admitted that he defrauded California’s Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF), a special fund administered by California’s workers’ compensation program to provide additional compensation to injured workers who already had a disability or impairment at the time of a subsequent injury.
Specifically, Claustro paid Do more than $300,000 for preparing medical evaluations, medical record reviews, and med-legal reports after Do’s suspension. Claustro caused Liberty to mail these reports to California’s SIBTF, concealing that they were prepared by Do by listing other doctors’ names on the billing forms and reports. Based on these fraudulent submitted reports, Liberty received hundreds of thousands of dollars from SIBTF.
The Commission also found that Claustro had executed his guilty plea agreement on December 8, 2025, yet failed to promptly report the criminal charges to the Commission on Judicial Performance as required by Canon 3D(3) of the Code of Judicial Ethics.
Claustro and his counsel, Paul S. Meyer, entered into a Stipulation for Discipline by Consent with Commission Director-Chief Counsel Gregory Dresser under Commission Rule 116.5. Under the stipulation, Claustro admitted that the facts were true, accepted the legal conclusions, and waived any right to further proceedings — including formal proceedings before the Commission and review by the California Supreme Court.
The Commission imposed a public censure and bar. Under Article VI, Section 18, subdivision (d) of the California Constitution, the Commission has authority to censure a judge for conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.
The Commission concluded that Claustro’s prebench felony fraud — a crime of moral turpitude — met that standard. Consistent with precedent, commission of a felony alone is a sufficient basis for censure and bar, regardless of the underlying facts of the crime. *See Censure and Bar of Former Judge Ronald C. Kline* (2006) p. 3; Cal. Const., art. VI, § 18, subd. (d); *Broadman v. Commission on Judicial Performance* (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1079, 1111–1112.