A longtime San Francisco caregiver is facing federal tax charges after prosecutors say she quietly collected millions from an elderly client and failed to tell the IRS about a big chunk of it. An indictment filed last Tuesday and unsealed yesterday accuses her of omitting at least $1.5 million in income and filing false returns in 2019 and 2020. The criminal case unfolds alongside a civil lawsuit that claims caregivers drained the onetime millionaire’s savings.
What Prosecutors Say Happened
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, 68-year-old Elsie Eclevia Curameng deposited hundreds of checks from a client identified in court papers as “G.C.” between 2019 and 2022. Those checks totaled more than $2.2 million, and prosecutors say Curameng did not report that income on her federal tax returns.
The indictment alleges Curameng worked for G.C. from at least 2008 through 2022, handling both in-home care and the client’s finances. Some payments were recorded as nursing or vacation pay before making their way into Curameng’s personal accounts, according to the filing. The investigation was led by IRS Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Civil Suit and Family Claims
The federal charges followed a trustee's civil complaint accusing Curameng and other caregivers of inflating their pay and issuing fraudulent checks to withdraw millions from the client’s accounts. Family members and plaintiffs told investigators the caregivers took more than $4 million and that by the time the client died in a Hayward nursing home in 2023, her investment account held less than $200, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Court Schedule and Potential Penalties
Curameng has already made an initial appearance in federal court and was released on bond, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She is scheduled to return for a status conference on May 20 before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.
If she is convicted, each tax evasion count carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine, while each false-return count carries up to three years and a $100,000 fine, the office said. Any sentence would be guided by the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors the judge must weigh.
Family Reaction
Relatives of the client have publicly described both the emotional fallout and the financial wreckage. Clark’s nephew, David Stewart, said he felt some measure of vindication once the criminal case was filed. “I feel relief for my aunt,” he told reporters after the indictment, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Why It Matters
The allegations tap into a growing concern: older adults, especially those with sizable assets, are frequent targets for financial exploitation, and questionable transactions can go unnoticed for years. Consumers reported losing $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, highlighting how widespread financial scams and schemes have become, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Cases like this often draw both civil actions and criminal scrutiny when the money trail raises red flags.
What Comes Next
The criminal case will continue in federal court at the May status hearing, while the trustee’s civil lawsuit against Curameng and other caregivers proceeds separately in state court. Like all defendants facing an indictment, Curameng is presumed innocent unless and until prosecutors prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
