The California Commission on Judicial Performance voted Monday to publicly censure and permanently bar former Orange County Superior Court Judge Israel Claustro from ever returning to the bench.
The decision, issued March 24, closes the commission's investigation into Claustro, who resigned from the OC Superior Court on January 12 after pleading guilty to one federal count of mail fraud. He had served on the bench since 2022.
The fraud scheme
Before Claustro became a judge, he was an Orange County prosecutor. On the side, he owned a company called Liberty Medical Group Inc., based in Rancho Cucamonga. California law prohibits non-physicians from owning medical corporations. Claustro is not a doctor.
Starting around 2015, Claustro paid a Pasadena physician named Kevin Tien Do to prepare medical evaluations and reports billed to the California Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, a workers' compensation program that helps injured workers with pre-existing disabilities. Do had been convicted of healthcare fraud in 2003 and was suspended from California's workers' comp system in October 2017.
That suspension did not stop Claustro from sending him work. According to federal prosecutors, Claustro paid Do more than $306,000 after the suspension to prepare medical reports that were then submitted under other physicians' names. The scheme generated more than $3 million in company billings to the state.
Claustro personally received approximately $38,670 in fraudulent payments tied to the post-suspension work, according to his plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.
The guilty plea
Federal charges were filed January 7, 2026, in U.S. v. Israel Claustro (Case No. 8:26-cr-00001-FWS, Central District of California). Claustro entered a guilty plea on January 12 and immediately resigned from the bench.
His plea agreement, which he signed on December 8, 2025, includes a government recommendation for probation with home confinement. The maximum penalty for mail fraud is 20 years in federal prison. He has not yet been sentenced.
Do, the co-conspirator, pleaded guilty in January 2025 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and filing a false tax return. His sentencing is also pending.
The commission's findings
In its order Monday, the commission found that Claustro's felony conviction constitutes "conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute." The commission also noted that Claustro failed to promptly report the federal charges to the commission, a violation of Canon 3D(3) of the Code of Judicial Ethics.
Although Claustro signed the plea agreement on December 8, 2025, and the formal charges were filed on January 7, 2026, the commission did not receive timely notification from Claustro himself.
"Commission of a felony, regardless of the underlying facts of the crime, is a sufficient basis upon which to impose a censure and bar," the commission wrote, citing a 2006 precedent.
Nine of 11 commission members voted to accept the stipulation and issue the censure. Two members did not participate.
What a censure and bar means
A public censure is one of the most severe actions the commission can take short of removal. The bar means Claustro can never serve as a judicial officer in California again. Because he had already resigned, formal removal proceedings were not necessary.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, in a statement released in January when the charges were first filed, said Claustro violated office policy on outside employment and betrayed public trust by defrauding benefits meant for injured workers.
The FBI, IRS, and California Department of Insurance are reportedly investigating potential additional criminal tax violations connected to the scheme.
The full stipulation and decision are available on the Commission on Judicial Performance website.