Arizona treasurer spent $39 million in county funds to support ‘extravagant lifestyle’

A former county treasurer in Arizona is being sued by Santa Cruz County for spending $39 million of county money to fund her “extravagant lifestyle,” the county said.

Elizabeth Gutfahr is being sued for allegedly embezzling at least $39,412,000 over a 10-year period. After the county was made aware of 11 transactions for $375,000 each, which were reported by JPMorganChase, investigations from multiple agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Justice, Department of Justice, and Santa Cruz County, were launched. 

“Though this is a significant amount of money for our community, we will do everything in our power to avoid impact to the day-to-day operations of the entities that rely on funding from the County, and we will continue to provide straightforward updates as things progress,” the county said in a press release.

Earlier this month, the county confirmed that $4.125 million was withdrawn from county funds during Gutfahr’s final months in office. The true figure ended up being almost ten times more than that. According to KJZZ Phoenix, three-quarters of the stolen money came from school districts in the county, as school districts in the area are now facing a deficit.

“She should be ashamed of herself, and second, she said she should be in jail or prison if she’s not right now,” Roberto Esparza, a county resident, told News 4 Tucson.

Now, the county has filed a civil lawsuit against Gutfahr in the Pima County Superior Court. 

“As a first action, Santa Cruz County has yesterday filed a civil lawsuit in the Pima County Superior Court against former Treasurer, Elizabeth Gutfahr, alleging that she embezzled at least $39,412,000, and it is our goal to recover as much of the stolen funds as possible,” the county said in a press release.

“In addition, the county is continuing its comprehensive internal review with the assistance of experienced outside legal and forensic accounting professionals, including a full forensic financial investigation of the accounts controlled by the county treasurer,” the statement continued.

The county said it is fully cooperating with separate investigations from the DOJ and FBI. According to federal court documents, criminal charges have not yet been filed against Gutfahr.