Former treasurer in Arizona admits to embezzling $38M over a decade
Real estate in Patagonia, Arizona; plumbing and new floors for a luxurious 150-acre ranch in nearby Tumacacori; operating expenses for a cattle business; and at least 20 vehicles, including Jeeps, Ford trucks, a Mercedes-Benz, Cadillacs and an Airstream touring coach.
These are some of the items former Santa Cruz County treasurer Elizabeth Gutfahr purchased using more than $38 million of taxpayer funds that she embezzled between 2014 and 2024, according to federal prosecutors.
Gutfahr, 62, pleaded guilty this week to charges of embezzlement by a public official, money laundering and tax evasion while she was serving as treasurer. Santa Cruz County in southern Arizona is looking for ways to recoup the millions that were meant for the public’s benefit, and local officials are also suing the state for allegedly failing for years to properly audit Gutfahr’s books.
The Justice Department, Santa Cruz County, the FBI and the IRS are part of the team still uncovering Gutfahr’s decadelong scheme.
“We expect public officials to serve as stewards of the government fisc – not to loot it,” said Nicole Argentieri, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, in a statement Thursday.
Court documents detailed how Gutfahr embezzled the funds over the course of approximately 187 wire transfers while she was county treasurer. She made illegal wire transfers from the county’s bank account, which she controlled, to personal accounts under phony identities, court records said. She then covered her tracks by producing false financial reports, they added.
In her plea, Gutfahr said she bypassed the two-step approval process for the wire transfers – installed to prevent officials from moving around funds on their own – by lying to her subordinate and saying she was transferring the money to generate interest for the county.
“I knew when I was stealing the funds from Santa Cruz County’s Savings Account that the funds in this account were used to pay expenses for schools and fire districts,” she said in her plea statement.
After years of embezzlement, Chase Bank alerted the county in April about unusual transactions in the treasurer’s accounts. Gutfahr was suspended the same week and sued by the county less than four months later.
Joshua Hamilton, Gutfahr’s lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment Saturday. In a statement shared with the Associated Press, Hamilton said his client “wants to take responsibility for the harm she has caused.”
“She knows that by pleading guilty, and accepting the punishment she will face as a result, she is taking a step in the right direction to be accountable for her actions,” Hamilton said.
The county said it has begun the process of recovering the funds from Gutfahr and her family members. Some of the personal properties that have been identified for recovery include real estate, cattle, approximately 15 horses, more than a dozen vehicles, and items such as jewelry and farm equipment.
This month, Santa Cruz County also sued the state of Arizona and Lindsey Perry, the state’s auditor general, for “lax auditing standards,” according to the complaint, which demands a jury trial. Perry did not respond to a request for comment Saturday night.
The complaint alleged that the state auditor failed to independently confirm the cash balances reported by Gutfahr, only reviewed the county’s June bank statements and never once requested a random sample of bank statements for any other month.
“Aware of this careless practice, Gutfahr strategically never stole funds in June or July-and consequently, the Auditor General never found out about the embezzlement,” the county said in its complaint. “Gutfahr’s scheme would have been detected many years ago had the Auditor General properly conducted its audits.”
Gutfahr is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 6 and faces up to 35 years in prison.