Two Fresno, Calif., residents have been charged on 12 counts of allegedly defrauding an ophthalmologist out of over $2.7 million and attempting to defraud his estate out of an additional $20 million, the U.S. Attorney General's Office in the Central District of California reported Feb. 1.
Anthony Flores, 46, and Anna Moore, 39, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, two counts of money laundering, and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property.
Mr. Flores and Ms. Moore allegedly falsely represented themselves to the physician, whose personal assets totaled over $60 million, and moved into his home serving as caregivers beginning in 2017, according to the report.
The physician was mentally ill and unable to care for himself at this time. He was arrested in 2017 and Mr. Flores then allegedly fraudulently induced him to become his power of attorney, giving Mr. Flores total control of the physician's finances.
Mr. Flores then posted bond for the physician and allegedly began opening bank accounts in his and Ms. Moore's name. The two also allegedly gave the physician multiple drugs including LSD and marijuana in the days leading up to his death and wired two $1 million sums to their accounts. Following his death, the defendants allegedly withdrew more money from the ophthalmologist's accounts and concealed information about his finances from his family.
The physician's family then filed a lawsuit, which led investigators to uncover the alleged fraud. Mr. Flores and Ms. Moore agreed to settle, then violated court orders that they repay the physician's estate $1 million.
If found guilty, the two could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison for each fraud count, 20 years on the conspiracy to commit money laundering and laundering of monetary instruments counts, 10 years on transactional money laundering count, and a mandatory two-year prison sentence for the aggravated identity theft count.