French National Gets 10 Years for Defrauding California’s Unclaimed Property Division

The man used fake identities to submit applications for unclaimed property, managing to steal $1.8 million.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, in Sacramento in October 2022. Google Maps / Screenshot via California Insider

A French national was sentenced to a decade in prison June 10 for defrauding the California State Controller’s Office out of nearly $2 million from its Unclaimed Property Division, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors say Gabriel Adrien Lobe Diop, 35, who previously resided in Fremont and Agoura Hills, posed as multiple victims for whom the controller’s office held “significant” amounts of unclaimed property.