In May, the California Department of Justice filed grand theft charges against Gregory Oveross and his bookkeeper, Faranita L. Corvalan, in what could rank among the largest fiduciary thefts in state history. Both have pleaded not guilty and remain free on bail while awaiting trial.

State prosecutors say Oveross deceived both his clients and the probate courts overseeing his work. But court records and other public documents reviewed by CalMatters show that judicial officials and the state’s Professional Fiduciaries Bureau missed repeated warning signs for years before charges were ever filed — underscoring an ongoing pattern of weak oversight of fiduciaries, who are granted sweeping legal authority over the finances and personal lives of people deemed unable to care for themselves.

In one instance, according to prosecutors, Oveross wrote himself 19 checks totaling $670,000 over the course of a year, all drawn from a single client’s accounts. State accounting forms require fiduciaries to list a check number for every expenditure, but Oveross left that column blank. Even so, a judge signed off on the accounting.

“Not having check numbers would be a huge red flag,” said Judge Sandra Bean, who oversees Alameda County’s probate court. “It’s all very practical. If something smells fishy, it probably is.”

California lawmakers tightened accounting requirements for fiduciaries back in 2006, following earlier scandals, mandating that check numbers be included specifically so courts could catch missing or hidden transactions. That safeguard, in this case, appears not to have worked as intended.

In a separate matter, the attorney general’s office alleges Oveross never distributed a $1.7 million inheritance to beneficiaries after being appointed to administer an estate. Court records show no follow-up hearing was ever scheduled to confirm the money had actually been paid out. State law doesn’t require such automatic review hearings, leading to inconsistent practices from county to county — some courts schedule them routinely, while others, including Sacramento, San Joaquin and Santa Clara counties, do not.

During the years Oveross is accused of stealing from clients, Los Angeles County’s courts did not automatically schedule such hearings either. That changed in January 2026, when the court began automatically setting review dates following approval of final distributions, according to court spokesperson Rob Oftring.

Public records also show Oveross failed to disclose, in a required annual filing, a case in which he had been accused of financial misconduct. These annual statements are meant to alert the bureau and the public to problems fiduciaries may have had — but they rely largely on the honesty of the fiduciaries themselves, who sign the forms under penalty of perjury.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in 2021 that would have required courts to notify the bureau whenever judges sanctioned a fiduciary for abusing their license. But that requirement only takes effect once state lawmakers allocate funding for it — and they never have.

In both 2022 and 2023, Oveross submitted annual statements to the bureau that left blank the question asking whether any complaints against him had been resolved, records show. Despite the incomplete filings, the bureau renewed his license each year. The bureau declined to answer questions about Oveross, citing the pending criminal case.

The Professional Fiduciaries Bureau was established two decades ago to protect consumers after journalists exposed widespread failures by judges to catch abuse and conflicts of interest among fiduciaries. Yet CalMatters’ reporting this year has found many of the same gaps persist.

The bureau says it depends on the courts to monitor fiduciaries’ conduct, while the courts often lean on the bureau for oversight — creating a loop of shared responsibility with little real accountability.

Oftring said an attorney reviews fiduciary accountings to confirm “all required information and supporting documentation is provided, that financial activity is clearly explained, and that the accounting is accurate and balanced.” Asked why the court approved Oveross’ accounting despite the missing check numbers, he said judges and court staff are barred from commenting publicly on pending or anticipated court proceedings.

In the arrest declaration, the attorney general’s office described what it called a “systemic and widespread pattern of misappropriation of assets, discrepancies, unauthorized diversion of funds, and noncompliance with probate court mandates.”

Attorneys for Oveross and Corvalan did not respond to requests for comment.

Oveross kept his license for years while under investigation

Jean C. Elbert suffered from dementia. Her extended family lived far away, and her closest living relative — her brother — was battling Alzheimer’s disease. Elbert’s family asked the court to appoint someone to oversee her care and finances. In August 2018, the court appointed Oveross, an experienced fiduciary, to the role.

Oveross managed Elbert’s conservatorship for roughly a year. During that time, prosecutors allege, he wrote himself 19 checks and omitted every one of them from the financial report he filed with the court.

After Elbert died in August 2019, Oveross told the court he had $1.8 million on hand to distribute to her heirs, and the court ordered him to disburse the funds.

According to court records and the state’s complaint, Oveross never sent the $764,000 owed to Elbert’s brother. The brother’s son eventually sued to recover his father’s share of the inheritance. His attorney discovered that Oveross had drained money from both the conservatorship and the estate, court filings show, and had used funds from other clients’ accounts to eventually pay out Elbert’s brother.

The two sides reached a settlement in May 2024. But state records show Oveross failed to disclose that settlement in his 2025 annual statement, despite being required to do so.

All told, prosecutors allege Oveross made $1.3 million in unauthorized withdrawals from Elbert’s accounts.

In a separate case, Oveross oversaw the $2 million estate of Guadalupe Rodriguez Diaz following her death in 2019. After paying outstanding bills, Oveross told the court that $1.6 million remained for her beneficiaries.

Prosecutors say Oveross then opened a secondary set of accounts and made unauthorized transfers to himself, to Corvalan, and to another trust he managed. Court documents indicate he spent nearly the entire estate on himself and his associates. According to prosecutors, Diaz’s heirs never received a single dollar from those accounts.

“Notably, no transactions related to inheritance distribution were observed in these accounts,” prosecutors wrote in court filings.

Court records show the criminal case began after Elbert’s nephew and another Oveross client filed complaints with the bureau in 2023. Shortly afterward, a bureau investigator referred the matter to the California Department of Justice.

Even as the criminal investigation moved forward, Oveross was allowed to continue working under a valid fiduciary license for more than two years. His license was finally suspended less than two weeks after his arrest. In the order barring him from practicing, the bureau demanded a complete list of every case in which he was serving as a fiduciary — information the agency should have already had, since fiduciaries are required to accurately report such details every year in their annual statements.

Original source: CalMatters

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