TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A woman accused of stealing $40 million from Santa Cruz County will have to survive on $2,000 a month.

That's the judge's ruling in a civil lawsuit seeking to recover millions of dollars lost from former Santa Cruz County Treasurer Elizabeth Gutfer.

The former Santa Cruz County Treasurer is accused of stealing about $40 million from the county's coffers over a period of about a decade. It's still a civil case, but criminal charges are expected. Now authorities are trying to figure out how to freeze his allegedly ill-gotten assets and give him enough money to live on.

Santa Cruz County alleges that Elizabeth Gutfer holds a long list of accounts and real estate that benefited from the roughly $40 million stolen from the county.

Those lawyers, along with Mr. Gutfer's lawyers, agreed to place the assets under the control of a court-appointed receiver pending further hearings. Everything will be frozen unless the receiver approves the changes. This is to ensure that Mr. Gutfer does not hide or sell assets that Santa Cruz County's attorneys say were likely paid for with stolen public funds.

But Gutfahr's lawyer said that with everything completely frozen, Gutfahr is struggling to pay for basic necessities.

“Forget the cost of hiring a lawyer. Right now she can't even walk across the street to buy lunch,” said Gutfer's lawyer, John Saffer.

The Santa Cruz County attorney said millions of dollars disappeared over a 10-year period, meaning any number of accounts could contain stolen funds, and regarding Gutfall's lack of cash to cover basic living expenses, attorney Ben Reeves said:

“Her fraudulent actions have robbed the county of the ability to provide basic public infrastructure, so saying we need basic living expenses is like the pot calling the kettle black.”

Judge Wayne Yering persuaded lawyers on both sides to agree to the Gutfers receiving $2,000 a month from Gutfer's husband's bank account.

No criminal charges have been filed in the case, but lawyers at the hearing made it sound like Gutfer expects them to. The FBI is investigating and has already seized several cars owned by Gutfer.