After a yearlong investigation, state officials have stripped a disgraced Silicon Valley wealth manager of her license, describing her failure to notice that her live-in boyfriend was stealing more than $16 million in client funds over five years an “extreme departure” from her professional duties.

In the latest twist in an ongoing saga, well-known Campbell estate manager Christine Backhouse was held partially responsible for the disappearance of dozens of elderly people’s life savings, according to documents released by the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Backhouse, the documents state, “gave a third party unfettered access to her client’s assets that she was charged with protecting,” failed to monitor or review accountings, and failed to adequately supervise her longtime partner, Leo Joshua Kennedy, whom she had once granted the lofty professional titles of “president” and “controller.”

The state’s action against Backhouse is rare for licensees in a field of roughly 700 California fiduciaries. It follows Kennedy’s criminal conviction last year on wire fraud charges, crimes U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh described as “heinous” and “severe” before sentencing him to 6 1/2 years in federal prison.

But the families whose life savings were ravaged by the thefts have stewed for months that Backhouse, a licensed fiduciary since 2008, was not being forced to take responsibility for her lack of oversight.

“It took more than a year to do what was so obviously needed immediately,” said East Bay accountant Louise Plona, whose late stepfather was once Backhouse’s client.

From 2007 to 2012, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs’ accusation, Kennedy diverted $16.2 million from 37 Backhouse clients, using the funds to launch technology companies and indulge in real estate ventures.

Backhouse did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment, but a message on her answering machine over the weekend still told callers they had reached “Backhouse Fiduciary Services.”

Records show that Backhouse told investigators the funds were diverted on faxed wire transfer requests through use of a signature stamp and photocopied signature, as well as “blank checks that were only to be used” when Backhouse was out of the country.

Kennedy, now in a federal prison in Colorado, is expected to be ordered to pay $13.7 million in restitution to his victims. But he has few assets left after the government seized three properties in his name, including a $1.2 million luxury home adjacent to the Snoqualmie Ridge golf course in Washington state.

Additional lawsuits are pending against Kennedy and Backhouse in Santa Clara County Superior Court, but not all victims chose to fight for their money back.

Beatrice Hoven, 97, of Colorado is among them. Hoven lovingly cared for her brother through his long bout with Parkinson’s disease before he died, and he left her a quarter-million dollars to repay her kindness. That money was handed to Backhouse to oversee as trustee, but just $60,000 was dispersed to Hoven before the payments stopped. At her advanced age, Hoven chose not to pursue litigation that could drag on for years and rack up legal fees.

Mark Hoven, her nephew, thinks Backhouse got off easy.

“She should be in jail with her boyfriend,” the retired salesman said. “For her to sit there and say she had no idea about it, for me she’s as guilty as this Leo Kennedy. As the president and CEO of her company, she should have had full accountability of where the funds were going.”

Added Hoven: “I know when my wife buys a tank of gas.”

Contact Karen de Sá at 408-920-5781.