A fraudster hairstylist has been sentenced to just about 16 years in jail for swindling tens of millions of {dollars} from a mentally-ill however rich Malibu eye surgeon.
Anthony David Flores, also called Anton David, pleaded responsible final 12 months to 9 felony fees, together with wire fraud, mail fraud, cash laundering and conspiracy for his position in a scheme to befriend Dr. Mark Sawusch and manipulate him into taking up his funds.
He and his then-girlfriend, yoga teacher Anna Rene Moore, 40, saved the physician drugged as they drained his accounts and lived in his waterfront Malibu mansion.
Along with the jail sentence, US District Choose Percy Anderson final week ordered Flores, 47, to pay $1million in restitution.
He cited the Fresno hairstylist’s ‘merciless disregard for human struggling’ and the ‘lack of worth he positioned on human life’ in his determination, The Los Angeles Instances experiences.
Antony David Flores, also called Anton David, left, was sentenced final week to just about 16 years behind bars for his and his ex-girlfriend’s scheme to defraud Dr. Mark Sawusch, middle
He and his then-girlfriend, yoga teacher Anna Rene Moore, 40, saved the physician drugged as they drained his accounts and lived in his waterfront Malibu mansion
‘What this defendant did erodes core values that we, as a individuals, have of empathy, compassion and kindness,’ the decide stated in courtroom final week.
‘This conduct was solely pushed by greed,’ he added, claiming Flores ‘grew to become misplaced… within the glitz and glamour, the automobiles and the jewellery, residing on the seashore.’
Flores additionally admitted he ‘let temptation and greed get the perfect of me’ as he stood earlier than Anderson and pleaded for a lighter sentence.
‘I am ashamed of myself,’ he stated, claiming he and Sawusch – who was value $60million after they met in 2017 – have been ‘like brothers.’
He stated he beloved Sawusch, a 57-year-old retired ophthalmologist and profitable investor, and would always remember him.
However Anderson did not appear to purchase it, in response to the LA Instances.
‘Your brother? Your good friend?’ he scoffed.
‘What’s so galling and so disturbing is you knew precisely what you have been doing,’ the decide continued.
‘You knew it was fallacious and also you knew it was immoral, and it merely did not matter to you.’
Flores, 47, and Anna Rene Moore, 40, first met Sawusch at an ice cream parlor off Venice Seashore in 2017
Prosecutors have stated that Flores, and his then-girlfriend, yoga teacher Anna Rene Moore, 40, first met Sawusch at an ice cream parlor off Venice Seashore in June 2017.
Sawusch was already affected by bipolar dysfunction on the time, and had misplaced the power to take care of himself, in response to the US Legal professional’s Workplace for the Central District of California.
Inside a number of days, Flores and Moore moved into the physician’s beachfront Malibu mansion – the place they lived rent-free – and pretended to be his caretakers and new finest buddies.
They lived there for 3 weeks earlier than Sawusch kicked them out in a match of rage – describing them as ‘white collar tax fraud criminals who tried to steal my Tesla and residential,’ in response to the LA Instances.
However quickly after, Sawusch skilled a extreme psychological breakdown and was arrested a number of occasions on fees together with public intoxication and vandalism.
Flores then satisfied Sawusch he grant him energy of legal professional so he may withdraw sufficient cash from his accounts to put up his bail.
He informed the physician in recorded jail calls that he would solely have a ‘very restricted’ energy of legal professional, however the authority was by no means revoked after Sawusch’s launch.
Flores then used that to open financial institution accounts in Sawusch’s title and acquire entry to his $60million fortune.
Sawusch, a 57-year-old retired ophthalmologist and profitable investor, was already affected by bipolar dysfunction on the time
He invited the couple to reside rent-free at his waterfront Malibu mansion
On the similar time, the newly-freed Sawusch invited the couple again to his seashore home.
There, Flores employed a raft of therapeutic massage therapists and greater than 20 housekeepers, handymen and different workers to work at Sawusch’s 1,200-square-foot house, telling them he needed it to be like a five-star spa, sources informed the LA Instances.
By early 2018, the physician was getting as much as six massages a day lasting round two hours every, with speaking discouraged.
Assistants labored in an workplace the place they ran the medical, authorized and monetary affairs of Sawusch in addition to Flores and Moore’s window-washing enterprise in Fresno, the data present.
Considered one of half a dozen therapists who was commanded to offer Sawusch, who was a profitable investor with a $60million fortune, with as much as six massages a day informed The LA Instances that the couple ‘simply saved him drugged’.
The couple saved the physician drugged, and instructed masseuses to provide him six massages a day whereas they swindled tens of millions of {dollars} from him
The couple began to take Sawusch to a health care provider for weekly infusions of ketamine to deal with melancholy and again ache – and offered him with marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and LSD, prosecutors stated.
Someday whereas Sawusch was beneath the affect, Flores modified the two-factor authentication on Sawusch’s brokerage account to ping his personal telephone – and initiated two $1million transfers into his and Moore’s financial institution accounts.
A few of that cash fueled their style for LA nightlife and so they threw an Oscars viewing social gathering on the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.
It additionally funded the couple’s ‘purchasing sprees’, in response to testimony from therapeutic massage therapist Dora Peterson.
All of the whereas, the couple prohibited his buddies and county case employees from making visits and informed his mom to not attempt to contact her son, authorities stated.
The couple prohibited Sawusch’s household and his county case employees from visiting
Two weeks earlier than Sawusch died, prosecutors stated Flores and Moore invited a shaman, Alan, into his house for a Mom’s Day acid journey.
He provided liquid LSD in a vial with a dropper for doses beneath the tongue, Flores testified.
Sawusch then evicted the couple from his house once more after the LSD induced his psychological state to deteriorate additional, prosecutors stated.
He spent a number of days disoriented, ‘flipping out’ and in a ‘manic state’, in response to workers who labored there and texts from Flores – who was utilizing surveillance cameras inside the house to look at from a luxurious resort in Santa Monica, together with Moore.
Sawusch wound up dying alone on Memorial Day weekend 2018.
The LA County coroner discovered it was an unintentional dying brought on by ketamine and alcohol intoxication.
However a pathologist who did an post-mortem discovered that ketamine and alcohol ‘didn’t considerably contribute to the fast explanation for dying’ and that Sawusch died because of two coronary heart situations: dilated cardiomyopathy and a congenitally slim coronary artery.
Flores and Moore used the cash they swindled from Sawusch to fund an extravagant way of life
They hit up a few of Los Angeles’ priciest golf equipment and went on purchasing sprees, prosecutors stated
Nonetheless, prosecutors stated Flores and Moore continued to withdraw cash from Sawusch’s accounts till the physician’s mom and sister ultimately sued.
His funds have been frozen amid the litigation, however Flores and Moore saved making an attempt to come up with it by funneling cash by means of completely different accounts, in response to Fox 26.
In addition they claimed in late 2018 that Sawusch had promised them his mansion and one-third of his property, however was unable to alter his will earlier than his premature dying.
The following litigation in the end resulted within the couple withdrawing their claims and agreeing to repay the property $1million.
However in courtroom on June 17, Choose Anderson stated the judgment continues to be unpaid – and a number of the cash from Sawusch’s account stays unaccounted for.
Sawusch died alone on Memorial Day weekend 2018, whereas Flores and Moore watched on safety cameras
Nonetheless, Flores’ legal professional argued that the Fresno hairstylist ought to solely be sentenced to not more than 33 to 41 months in jail – noting that his consumer took duty by pleading responsible and had no prior felony historical past.
He additionally pointed to greater than a dozen members of the family and buddies that had congregated within the courtroom to help Flores.
‘This isn’t an individual who has created a lifetime of crime,’ legal professional Ambrosio E. Rodriguez stated, in response to the LA Instances.
‘He has created buddies and households which might be right here to help him.’
Assistant US Legal professional Andrew Roach additionally acknowledged that Flores had family and friends to help him, however famous Sawusch ‘was actually focused as a result of he did not have that help.’
‘That allowed [Flores] to get management and take management of his life,’ Roach argued.
Following the sentencing, Rodriguez stated he and his consumer ‘settle for the decide’s sentence, however we’re disillusioned.’
In the meantime in an announcement to reporters, Sawusch’s household stated they have been ‘lastly discovering some consolation in figuring out these relentless criminals have [pleaded] responsible, confessed to their widespread net of deceit and lies, and are going through the results.
‘There’s nothing worse than those that prey upon the extremely weak.’
Moore pleaded responsible final 12 months to seven felony fees for the scheme, and is because of be sentenced on October 28.
