A court-appointed financial expert will manage all assets owned by the son and daughter-in-law of a former Santa Cruz County treasurer who is being sued for allegedly embezzling approximately $39 million in public funds. It will be.
This follows an order from Pima County Superior Court on Monday that expanded receivership over the assets of former Santa Cruz County Treasurer Elizabeth Gutfahr. Receivership is a process in which a court-appointed official is responsible for managing an asset in order to preserve, maintain, or sell it.
The incident comes after Santa Cruz County claimed in court documents that his son, Davian Gutfahr, and his wife, Anna Gutfahr, were living off of allegedly stolen funds. Ta. Davian Gutfahr, 36, is a partner in a number of companies run by his mother.
Santa Cruz County said in a court filing that “Elizabeth Gutfahr was involved in a 10-year scheme to steal more than $38.5 million from the county, with the majority of the county’s money going to Davian and Anna’s unearned income.” “I used it to fund a lavish lifestyle,” he said. .
According to the county, his lifestyle includes hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal items, including shoes, watches, wallets, expensive clothing, dinners, vacations to Disneyland and Universal Studios, and hosting large events at Top Golf and various resorts. It is said that it includes spending . According to court documents, the couple also lived rent-free on Elizabeth Gutfahr’s property and owned vehicles in Elizabeth’s name, including a Mercedes G-Class sport utility vehicle, a late model Ford F-250 truck, and a multi-use terrain vehicle. He is said to have been driving.
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“Davian and Anna’s monthly spending habits were unrestrained and excessive by any standard,” the county said in court documents.
Keith Biermann of MCA Financial Group was appointed trustee of Elizabeth Gutfahr’s assets in August. Since his appointment, Mr. Biermann has petitioned the court to sell Mr. Gutfahr’s cattle, 17 properties and other assets.
According to court records, he obtained records from American Express dating back to August 2018 that show Davian and Anna charged more than $2 million to a credit card that Elizabeth paid for with county funds.
Biermann also found evidence that Elizabeth sent her son $42,572 for 10 “labor” jobs between May 2021 and January 2024 as part of home renovations, the court said. mentioned in.
The county argued that Davian and Anna needed a receiver to protect and preserve the property they purchased with county funds, and that Davian could not be trusted. The county noted that Davian procured a $20,000 refund check from Jacobson Custom Homes after news of Gutfahr’s alleged embezzlement became public.
“At that point, a trusted person would have alerted authorities to the whereabouts of the potentially stolen assets… Davian did the opposite, secretly keeping those assets for himself and his wife. and attempted to obtain it,” the county said in court records. It cannot be trusted and the court should appoint a receiver to protect the county from further wrongdoing by Davian and Anna. ”
The court has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 1 to determine whether the receivership should be made permanent.
Who is Elizabeth Gutfahr?
Prior to becoming a Treasurer, Elizabeth had a background in real estate. She first ran as a Democratic candidate for Santa Cruz County Treasurer in 2012. She won the general election in November 2012, receiving 43% of the vote in a close three-way primary. Mr. Gutfahr was re-elected in 2016 and 2020, as planned. She had planned to run unopposed in the 2024 election until the county charged her with embezzlement.
The investigation was discovered in April after a bank in the county flagged suspicious activity, leading to an investigation by county, state and federal authorities.
The criminal investigation is still ongoing.
Here’s where to contact the reporter: sarah.lapidus@gannett.com . The Republic’s southern Arizona coverage is funded in part by a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation. supportjournalism.azcentral.com.
