A scamming hairstylist has been sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison for swindling millions of dollars from a mentally ill but wealthy Malibu eye surgeon.
Anthony David Flores, also known as Anton David, pleaded guilty last year to nine felonies, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy for his role in a scheme to befriend Dr. Mark Sawusch and manipulate him to to take charge of his finances. .
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson last week ordered Flores, 47, to pay $1 million in restitution.
He cited the Fresno stylist’s “callous disregard for human suffering” and the “lack of value he placed on human life” in his decision. The Los Angeles Times reports.
Antony David Flores, also known as Anton David, left, was sentenced last week to nearly 16 years behind bars for his and his ex-girlfriend’s scheme to defraud Dr. Mark Sawusch, center.
“What this defendant did erodes the fundamental values that we, as a people, have of empathy, compassion and kindness,” the judge said in court last week.
“This conduct was motivated solely by greed,” he added, stating that Flores “lost himself… in the glitz and glamour, cars and jewelry, living on the beach.”
Flores also admitted that he let “temptation and greed get the better of me” when he stood before Anderson and asked for a lighter sentence.
“I’m ashamed of myself,” he said, stating that he and Sawusch, who was worth $60 million when they met in 2017, were “like brothers.”
He said he loved Sawusch, a 57-year-old retired ophthalmologist and successful investor, and would never forget him.
But Anderson didn’t seem to believe it, according to the LA Times.
‘His brother? Your friend?’ she scoffed.
“What is so infuriating and disturbing is that you knew exactly what you were doing,” the judge continued.
“You knew it was wrong and you knew it was immoral, and you just didn’t care.”
Flores, 47, and Anna Rene Moore, 40, met Sawusch at an ice cream shop off Venice Beach in 2017.
Prosecutors have said Flores and his then-girlfriend, yoga instructor Anna Rene Moore, 40, met Sawusch at an ice cream shop off Venice Beach in June 2017.
Sawusch was already suffering from bipolar disorder at the time and had lost the ability to care for himself, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Within days, Flores and Moore moved into the doctor’s beachfront mansion in Malibu, where they lived rent-free, and pretended to be his caregivers and new best friends.
They lived there for three weeks before Sawusch kicked them out in a fit of rage, describing them as “white-collar tax fraud criminals who tried to steal my Tesla and my house,” according to the LA Times.
But soon after, Sawusch experienced a severe mental breakdown and was arrested several times on charges including public intoxication and vandalism.
Flores then convinced Sawusch to give him power of attorney so he could withdraw enough money from his accounts to pay his bail.
He told the doctor in recorded jail calls that he would only have “very limited” power of attorney, but the authority was never revoked after Sawusch’s release.
Flores then used that to open bank accounts in Sawusch’s name and gain access to his $60 million fortune.
Sawusch, a 57-year-old retired ophthalmologist and successful investor, was already suffering from bipolar disorder at the time.
He invited the couple to live rent-free in his beachfront mansion in Malibu.
At the same time, the newly released Sawusch invited the couple to return to his beach house.
There, Flores hired a series of masseuses and more than 20 housekeepers, handymen and other staff to work on Sawusch’s 1,200-square-foot home, telling them he wanted it to be like a five-star spa, they said. sources to the LA Times.
In early 2018, the doctor was receiving up to six massages a day, each lasting about two hours, and advised against talking.
The assistants worked in an office where they ran Sawusch’s medical, legal and financial affairs, as well as Flores and Moore’s window-washing business in Fresno, records show.
One of the half-dozen therapists ordered to provide Sawusch, who was a successful investor worth $60 million, with up to six massages a day, told Los Angeles Times that the couple “just kept him high.”
The couple kept the doctor drugged and ordered the masseuses to give him six massages a day while they scammed him out of millions of dollars.
The couple began taking Sawusch to a doctor to give him weekly infusions of ketamine to treat depression and back pain, and provided him with marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and LSD, prosecutors said.
One day, while Sawusch was under the influence, Flores changed the two-factor authentication on Sawusch’s brokerage account to ping his own phone and initiated two $1 million transfers to his and Moore’s bank accounts.
Some of that money fueled their taste for Los Angeles nightlife and they hosted an Oscar viewing party at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.
He also financed the couple’s “shopping sprees,” according to masseuse Dora Peterson’s testimony.
Meanwhile, the couple banned their friends and county social workers from visiting and told their mother not to try to contact their son, authorities said.
The couple banned Sawusch’s family and her county social workers from visiting
Two weeks before Sawusch’s death, prosecutors said Flores and Moore invited a shaman, Alan, to their home for an acid trip on Mother’s Day.
He supplied liquid LSD in a vial with a dropper for doses under the tongue, Flores testified.
Sawusch then again evicted the couple from their home after the LSD caused their mental state to deteriorate further, prosecutors said.
He spent several days disoriented, ‘freaked out’ and in a ‘manic state’, according to staff working there and text messages from Flores, who was using surveillance cameras inside the house to watch from a luxury hotel in Santa Monica. , along with Moore. .
Sawusch ended up dying alone on Memorial Day weekend of 2018.
The Los Angeles County coroner determined it was an accidental death caused by ketamine and alcohol intoxication.
But a pathologist who performed an autopsy found that ketamine and alcohol “did not contribute significantly to the immediate cause of death” and that Sawusch died as a result of two heart conditions: dilated cardiomyopathy and a congenital narrow coronary artery.
Flores and Moore used the money they swindled from Sawusch to finance an extravagant lifestyle
They visited some of the most expensive clubs in Los Angeles and went shopping, prosecutors said.
Still, prosecutors said Flores and Moore continued to withdraw money from Sawusch’s accounts until the doctor’s mother and sister finally filed a lawsuit.
Their funds were frozen amid the litigation, but Flores and Moore continued to try to recover them by funneling the money through different accounts. according to Fox 26.
They also claimed in late 2018 that Sawusch had promised them his mansion and a third of his estate, but was unable to change his will before his untimely death.
The resulting litigation ultimately resulted in the couple withdrawing their claims and agreeing to reimburse the estate $1 million.
But in court on June 17, Judge Anderson said the judgment has not yet been paid and some of the money in Sawusch’s account is still missing.
Sawusch died alone on Memorial Day weekend 2018, as Flores and Moore watched via security cameras.
Still, Flores’ attorney argued that the Fresno hairstylist should only be sentenced to no more than 33 to 41 months in prison, noting that his client took responsibility by pleading guilty and had no criminal record.
He also pointed out more than a dozen family members and friends who had gathered in the courtroom to support Flores.
“This is not a person who has created a life of crime,” said attorney Ambrosio E. Rodríguez, according to the LA Times.
“You’ve created friends and families who are here to support you.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Roach also acknowledged that Flores had friends and family who supported him, but noted that Sawusch “was really targeted because he didn’t have that support.”
“That allowed (Flores) to take control and take control of his life,” Roach argued.
After the sentencing, Rodriguez said he and his client “accept the judge’s sentence, but we are disappointed.”
Meanwhile, in a statement to reporters, Sawusch’s family said they were “finally finding some comfort in knowing that these relentless criminals have pleaded guilty, confessed to their extensive web of deceptions and lies, and are facing the consequences.”
“There is nothing worse than those who prey on the most vulnerable.”
Moore pleaded guilty last year to seven felonies for the scheme and will be sentenced Oct. 28.
