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- The victim was a multi-million dollar ex-doctor whose illness left him unable to take care of himself.
- The suspect went to the doctor’s house to take care of him.
- Prosecutors have alleged that the duo took advantage of the doctor’s poor health and stole millions behind his back.
A California actress and hairstylist pretended to be a late doctor’s caregiver and befriended him in a scheme to control his finances and steal millions, federal prosecutors said last week.
In the indictment filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, prosecutors said the pair moved to the wealthy doctor’s beach house in Malibu, California, where he cared for her as her mental illness worsened. Prosecutors said the doctor, who was not named in the indictment, was drugged by the couple at multiple locations to hide their activities.
Prosecutors have accused Anna Renee Moore, 39, an actress, and Anthony David Flores, 46, of Jay Anton David, a licensed hairstylist., including 12 counts of fraud, identity theft and money laundering.
Prosecutors said Flores and Moore stole a total of more than $2.7 million from the victim and tried to get an additional $20 million from his estate after his death.
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The victims were former doctors, investors
The unidentified victim was an ophthalmologist who specialized in eye medicine and a private investor with brokerage accounts worth more than $60 million, according to the indictment.
He was hospitalized eight times between 2015 and 2017 for mental illness and became unable to care for himself before he died in May 2018 at his Malibu home, prosecutors said. He was 57 years old.
The late doctor had only two surviving family members: an elderly mother and a sister who both lived in Florida, according to the indictment.
The victim’s family filed a lawsuit against the couple, prosecutors said in a news release. Flores and Moore agreed to pay $1 million in restitution to the victim’s estate as part of the settlement but have so far failed to do so.
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The indictment reveals how the ‘new friends’ eventually stole millions
According to the indictment, Moore and Flores befriended the victim at a Venice, California, ice cream shop in June 2017. A few days later, the duo sent the victim a text signed “Your new friends: Anton and Anna” and helped him.
“We want to add ease and flow to your life and serve you better,” the text read.
In late June, they moved in with the victim at his Malibu beach house, according to the indictment.
After the victim was jailed after hospitalization and a mental breakdown, Flores convinced a doctor to grant him a limited power of attorney in September 2017 so he could bail the victim out of jail, according to the indictment.
He told the victim he would release the power of attorney after she was released from prison, the indictment said. The victim admitted it.
But Flores went back on his word, kept his power of attorney and allegedly helped the victim extend it. Eventually, Flores gained access to the doctor’s banking and investment accounts.
During the months of late 2017 and early 2018, Flores and Moore diverted funds from the victim’s account to their own, prosecutors said. According to the allegations, he also resisted the efforts of the doctor’s mother to protect her sick son.
Prosecutors allege that Flores and Moore arranged for doctors to inject him with ketamine at the clinic, in an attempt to keep him under control and unaware of the extent to which they controlled his finances.
In the weeks leading up to the doctor’s death in May 2018, the pair allegedly gave the doctor LSD, a hallucinogenic drug, and marijuana to keep him sedated. He also allegedly changed the password and registered number on the investment portfolio.
Doctors eventually kicked Flores and Moore out of their home in May because of their deteriorating mental health, according to the indictment. The duo used the doctor’s money to stay at a nearby luxury hotel and monitored the doctor through a surveillance camera system installed in his home.
On May 29, 2018, Flores texted an acquaintance that the doctor had died in his sleep. He and Moore went back to the Malibu beach house and allegedly drained hundreds of thousands from the victims’ accounts, withdrawing more than $1 million earlier that month, according to the indictment.
According to the allegations, they held a memorial service at the victim’s home in June without inviting his family.
Flores and Moore face more than fifty years in prison
Flores and Moore face up to 20 years in prison for the fraud charges, 30 years for the money laundering charges and two years for the identity theft charges, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said in a new release that the two have been 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
- One count of engaging in financial transactions in criminally derived assets
Flores has pleaded not guilty to all charges, prosecutors said. It was unclear whether Moore entered the plea on Sunday. Neither defendant had an attorney listed in the federal court database Sunday.
A detention hearing for Flores was scheduled for Feb. 10, and both defendants will appear in federal court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, prosecutors said.
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