Former California Insurance Agent Arraigned for Allegedly Taking $1M from Clients

Former insurance agent Steven Gordon, 67, of Camarillo, Calif. was arraigned on Thursday on 21 felony counts of grand theft, forgery, identity theft, and credit card fraud after allegedly stealing more than $1 million from three former clients.

The California Department of Insurance launched an investigation after an insurance company reported suspicious withdrawals from one of their customer’s accounts. It was discovered that Gordon, as owner of Geetis Group Inc., made six electronic transfer funds, totaling $103,520, from the victim’s annuity account to an account that he controlled. He also reputedly stole $70,000 from that same victim’s savings account, charged nearly $100,000 to their credit card, and forged checks to steal approximately $310,000 from their bank account.

During the investigation, the CDI discovered two additional victims, a husband and wife. Gordon reportedly made dozens of electronic transfers, totaling $679,934 from multiple annuity accounts owned by the victims to a bank account that he controlled. He also allegedly forged bank checks to steal an additional $102,852 from their bank account.

The investigation revealed Gordon concealed his crimes by stealing the identities of his victims and changing the mailing address of the accounts to his home address. He also changed the email addresses associated with his victims’ accounts to an email address that he created. This prevented the victims from receiving account statements showing evidence of the withdrawals he was making. Gordon would then mail the victims falsified account statements he created that omitted the withdrawals.

Gordon was arrested and booked into custody on Aug. 26 by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. Gordon is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 26. The case is being prosecuted by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, Fraud and Technology Crimes Unit.

Topics California Agencies