The Jury Is Out in Craig Case Embezzlement Trial

Former Private Eye and TV Personality Faces Life in Prison If Found Guilty of Stealing $700,000 from Montecito Arts Patron

Craig Case | Credit: Courtesy

In the trial against former private investigator and TV personality Craig Case, both sides rested their cases on February 24 with mention of Occam’s razor. This problem-solving principle says the simplest explanation is often closest to the truth. According to DA prosecutor Brian Cota, why and how Craig Case allegedly embezzled nearly $700,000 from the bank account of wealthy Montecito arts patron Constance McCormick Fearing is simple. However, according to Case’s defense attorney, George Steele, “the truth is stranger than fiction,” and the DA’s office is far from it.

“This case fails at step one,” Steele said during closing arguments on Monday. “There was no deception, no lie, no coercion.”

According to bank records, Case obtained the money through a series of checks cut and signed by Fearing’s power of attorney, Nancy Coglizer. Between 2018 and 2021, Case asked Coglizer 103 times “if Connie had any extra money for a short-term loan,” Coglizer testified, and 103 times, she obliged. She often split large checks into multiple, smaller checks at Case’s directive, likely to avoid the federal reporting requirement for large cash transactions, DA Investigator Kristin Shamordola said.

“He owes money because he took the loan, but that’s not a crime,” argued Steele. “If the agreement was a loan, there’s no conspiracy. There’s no theft.”

Coglizer testified that extreme mental-health and substance-abuse challenges stemming from the 2018 death of her mother paved the way for Case to manipulate her into cutting him checks. She pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy and elder abuse and will be sentenced following Case’s trial.

Coglizer was a “depressed alcoholic with access to a lot of money,” Cota said — “the perfect prey.” Case even drove down to a rehab center in Malibu where Coglizer was admitted to ask for money. Within 15 minutes of arriving, Coglizer testified, he walked out with two checks from Fearing’s account.

In the meantime, state and federal tax liens were accruing against Case, and the IRS was garnishing substantial amounts of income from his clients.

Further, Case was dealing with a civil lawsuit against him by Santa Barbara winemaker Roger Bower. Case received a loan — with the terms laid out in a promissory note — from Bower in 2018 and failed to pay any of it back. As a result, Bower sued, winning by default because Case didn’t file a response or show up to court. Due to Case’s apparent absence, Bower testified that it took a collection attorney and nearly two years to receive the $50,000 owed to him.

“He just got in over his head in debt,” Steele said. “There was simply no lie.”

While debts kept stacking up, Case continued to receive “short-term loans” via checks from Coglizer out of Fearing’s account. Bank records show that oftentimes, Case would pocket a portion of the check in cash and purchase a cashier’s check with the remainder. Then, he would deposit the cashier’s check into the bank account of his mother, Erma Case. Soon after, Case would write himself a check for the same amount out of Erma’s bank account and cash it himself, according to Investigator Shamordola. “It’s a good way to hide the source of the money,” Shamordola testified.

“This was a master class by Mr. Case on how to con someone,” Cota argued.

After Case was arrested in 2023, he called his daughter from jail. In the recording, Case begged his daughter to “get me out of here,” and told her multiple times to ask family and friends for money “on a short-term basis” to post his bail. He named at least seven individuals for Jennifer to ask for money.

“Dad, I’m sorry. I hate this,” his daughter replied. “I don’t believe you.”

Knowing “a quarter” of what the jury knows, “she knew she was being manipulated,” Cota said. “She knew she was being lied to.”

“Mr. Case is a predator, a manipulator, and a fraud,” Cota concluded. This, he argued, is the simplest explanation.

Deliberations will continue until the jury reaches a unanimous verdict. If convicted, Case could spend the rest of his life in prison.