Grand Jury Charges Two for Alleged Multimillion Dollar Fraud Against Pacific Palisades Ophthalmologist

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

A Fresno-based hairstylist and actress/yoga studio owner have been charged with stealing more than $2.7 million from a Pacific Palisades-based ophthalmologist, prosecutors from the Central District of California announced.

Anthony David Flores (a.k.a. “Anton David”), and his co-defendant, Anna Rene Moore, were charged in a 12-count indictment on February 1, according to The United States Department of Justice, alleging they “defrauded a physician out of more than $2.7 million before his death and then attempted to defraud his estate out of an additional amount exceeding $20 million.”

Dr. Mark Sawusch, who lived in Malibu, retired without warning in 2017 while working from an office on Via De La Paz—leaving former patients without access to their medical records. The ophthalmologist had a career of more than 30 years, following a medical degree from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, a residency at Johns Hopkins University and certification from the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Flores was arrested earlier this year in Fresno by federal agents, according to the Justice Department, and has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Moore, a former yoga studio owner who currently lives in Mexico, was arrested in Houston, the Justice Department reported, and has also pleaded not guilty.

The two are 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.

“According to the indictment, beginning in June 2017, Flores and Moore used false promises and representations to befriend the victim—a physician and successful investor worth more than $60 million, but who suffered from a mental illness and lost the ability to care for himself,” according to the Justice Department. “Within days of meeting the victim, Flores and Moore moved into the victim’s beachfront Malibu home—rent free—and slowly took control of his life by pretending to be his new ‘best friends’ and caregivers.”

After Sawusch suffered what was described as a “severe mental breakdown,” which resulted in his arrest and detention in LA County jail, Flores allegedly fraudulently induced him to sign powers of attorney, granting Flores control over his finances in September 2017, according to the Justice Department, in order to post bail.

“From September 2017 to May 2018, Flores and Moore allegedly diverted the victim’s funds to their own bank accounts, isolated the victim from his family and longtime friends, and provided the victim with drugs, including marijuana and LSD,” the Justice Department wrote. “In the final days of the victim’s life, Flores and Moore allegedly gave the victim LSD, which caused his mental state to severely deteriorate. While the victim was under the influence of LSD, Flores allegedly changed the two-step authentication feature on the victim’s $60 million online brokerage account after previously changing the phone number listed on the account from the victim’s phone number to his own phone number.”

Four days before Sawusch’s death—after Flores allegedly initiated two $1 million wires from his accounts—Flores and Moore left Sawusch, who was in “mental distress and had evicted them from his home,” according to the Justice Department. Moore and Flores allegedly watched Sawusch’s deteriorating mental condition from video cameras installed throughout his Malibu beach house, according to the Justice Department, from a luxury hotel paid with his funds.

After Sawusch died in his home in May 2018 at the age of 57, Flores and Moore moved back in and allegedly withdrew “large sums of money” from his accounts, according to the Justice Department. They also allegedly concealed information about Sawusch’s finances from his mother and sister, who reside in Florida.

“This prompted the victim’s family to file a lawsuit, which uncovered the alleged fraud,” the Justice Department continued. “In the ensuing lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, Flores and Moore allegedly violated multiple court orders ordering them to return the funds stolen from the victim. They allegedly attempted to launder the fraudulent proceeds by funneling the money through multiple different accounts to thwart the victim’s estate and court-appointed receiver from recouping the money. The lawsuit was settled with Flores and Moore agreeing to repay the victim’s estate $1 million, which they have so far failed to do.”

Details surrounding the final months of Sawusch’s life have recently been reported in a Los Angeles Times investigation, including “at least eight hospitalizations for an extremely serious case of bipolar disorder” and how he met the pair at an ice cream shop in Venice before inviting them back to his house.

Assistant United States Attorney Andrew M. Roach of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section is prosecuting this case. There is a trial date scheduled for May 9, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office Public Information Officer Ciaran McEvoy, but “the prosecution and defense have asked U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in Los Angeles to continue the trial date to March 19, 2024.”

“If convicted on all counts, Flores and Moore would face statutory maximum sentences 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,” according to the Justice Department.