Fraudster hairstylist is sentenced to 16 years in jail for swindling millions from wealthy Malibu eye surgeon after moving into his mansion with his girlfriend and turning it into a drug den

A fraud 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 charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy for his role in a scheme to befriend Dr. Mark Sawusch and manipulate him into taking over his finances. .

In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ordered Flores, 47, last week to pay $1 million in restitution.

He cited the Fresno hairstylist’s “cruel disregard for human suffering” and the “lack of value he placed on human life” in his decision: The Los Angeles Times reports this.

“What this defendant has done affects the core values ​​that we have as a people, namely empathy, compassion and kindness,” the judge said in court last week.

“This behavior was driven solely by greed,” he added, claiming Flores “became lost… in the glitz and glamour, the cars and the jewelry, the beach life.”

Flores also admitted that he “let temptation and greed get the better of him” when he stood before Anderson and argued for a lighter sentence.

“I’m ashamed of myself,” he said, claiming 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 according to the LA Times, Anderson didn’t seem to believe it.

‘Your brother? Your friend?’ he scoffed.

“What is so hurtful 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.”

Prosecutors have said Flores and his then-girlfriend, yoga instructor Anna Rene Moore, 40, first met Sawusch at an ice cream shop near Venice Beach in June 2017.

Sawusch already suffered from bipolar disorder at the time and could no longer care for himself, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Within a few days, Flores and Moore moved into the doctor’s Malibu mansion on the beach – where they lived rent-free – and posed as his caretakers 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 fraudsters trying to steal my Tesla and my house,” according to the LA Times.

But shortly afterwards, Sawusch suffered a serious nervous breakdown and was arrested several times on charges including public drunkenness and vandalism.

Flores then convinced Sawusch to grant him power of attorney so he could withdraw enough money from his accounts to pay his bail.

He told the doctor in recorded prison conversations that he would have only “very limited” power of attorney, but the power 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.

At the same time, the newly released Sawusch invited the couple back to his beach house.

There, Flores hired a slew of massage therapists and more than two dozen housekeepers, handymen and other staff to work at Sawusch’s 1,200-square-foot home, telling them he wanted it to be a five-star spa, sources told the LA Times .

In early 2018, the doctor received up to six massages a day of about two hours each, with talking discouraged.

Assistants worked in an office where they managed Sawusch’s medical, legal and financial affairs, as well as Flores and Moore’s window cleaning business in Fresno, records show.

One of six therapists tasked with supplying Sawusch, a successful investor, with a $60 million fortune, with up to six massages a day. The LA Times that the couple “just kept him drugged.”

The couple began taking Sawusch to a doctor for 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 investment account to ping his own phone – and initiated two $1 million wire transfers to his and Moore’s bank accounts.

Some of that money fueled their taste for LA nightlife and they hosted an Oscar viewing party at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

It also funded the couple’s “retail activities,” according to testimony from massage therapist Dora Peterson.

All the while, the couple banned his friends and county employees from visiting and told his mother not to try to contact her son, authorities said.

Two weeks before Sawusch died, prosecutors said Flores and Moore invited a shaman, Alan, to his home for a Mother’s Day trip.

He supplied liquid LSD in a vial with a dropper for sublingual doses, Flores testified.

Sawusch then evicted the couple again after the LSD caused his mental state to deteriorate further, prosecutors said.

He spent several days disoriented, “flared” and in a “manic state,” according to staff who worked there and text messages from Flores — who used home surveillance cameras to watch from a luxury hotel in Santa Monica, together with Moore.

Sawusch died alone on Memorial Day weekend 2018.

The LA County coroner found the death to be 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 congenitally narrow coronary artery.

Still, prosecutors said Flores and Moore continued to withdraw money from Sawusch’s accounts until the doctor’s mother and sister eventually filed a lawsuit.

His money was frozen during the lawsuit, but Flores and Moore continued to try to get a handle on it by moving money through various accounts. according to Fox26.

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 ensuing lawsuit eventually led to the couple withdrawing their claims and agreeing to repay the $1 million estate.

But on June 17, Judge Anderson said in court that the judgment has still not been paid — and that some of the money in Sawusch’s account remains unaccounted for.

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 prior criminal history.

He also pointed to more than a dozen family members and friends who gathered in the courtroom to support Flores.

“This is not someone who has created a life of crime,” attorney Ambrosio E. Rodriguez said, according to the LA Times.

“He has created friends and families who are here to support him.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Roach also acknowledged that Flores had friends and family to support him, but noted that Sawusch “was really targeted because he didn’t have that support.”

‘That was allowed [Flores] to 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, Sawusch’s family said in a statement to reporters that they “finally found some comfort in knowing that these ruthless criminals [pleaded] guilty, have confessed to their widespread web of deceit 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 charges related to the scheme and will be sentenced on October 28.