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Marine Madatyan

Armenians Arrested in Massive U.S. Criminal Conspiracy Ring

U.S. law enforcement agencies arrested 32 people, including a number of Armenians, on May 6 after being charged with various criminal conspiracy charges.

The indictment names three Armenians (Ara Karapedyan, 45, Mihran Stepanyan, 29, and Artur Stepanyan, 38) as the ringleaders of a nationwide conspiracy to conduct a broad range of criminal activity including unlicensed wholesale drug distribution, money laundering and fraud.

The arrests follow a joint investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service.

 The indictment names 33 defendants in all and describes an enterprise that spanned throughout California as well as in Minnesota, Ohio and Puerto Rico.

Regarding the multi-million dollar prescription drug diversion scheme, members and associates of the enterprise are alleged to have procured prescription drugs from unlicensed sources and to have resold the drugs to unknowing customers. 

Another aspect of the alleged criminal activity is a massive check and bank fraud operation. 

As part of the enterprise, Karapedyan and his associates (including Asatour Magzanyan, 53, Tigran Sarkisyan, 38, and Hripsime Khachtryan, 41) allegedly used fraudulent identification information to prepare fraudulent tax returns, which were then filed with the government in order to induce the U.S. Treasury to issue tax refund checks.

In addition to the fraudulent unlicensed distribution of drugs and negotiating fraudulent checks, Karapedyan, the Stepanyans and others are charged with conspiring to launder money in an effort to promote their criminal activities and to conceal proceeds collected from their criminal activities. 

See full FBI news release HERE

Comments (3)

Shant D.
SOME Armenians coming from Armenia, from essentially the slums, have no other easy way to make a living than to defraud a system that COULD be easily exploited. Most of them flocking to California to reach their comrades who lived a life remembering socialism, where the government was relied upon for everything. They have a problem assimilating to US culture and are caught up with materialistic wealth, 745 BMW's and what not.. This is not to say MANY Armenians understood the opportunity here in the US and revived an entrepreneurial attitude that was not available to them In Armenia. Socially AMB is right. Most Armenians that were displaced to East Coast have had generations to achieve legitimate wealth, build family, businesses, etc. New Armenians see this and want the easy way in.. Thus jail and then deportation incurs.. The difference is they underestimate the gov here and cant bride cops accordingly..Sad Truth...
amb
This is not a big deal. Armenians like all other nations have the good, the not so good and the criminal amongst us. It is the false expectation according to the misguided fable that Armenians are all angelic that is the cause of the problem. If we take a realistic view of how things are, how people are, then criminal activity would be treated and viewed as just that, criminals doing their thing; and not Armenians doing their thing.
Preston Bagrationi
These criminals do absolutely NOTHING but shower shame after shame on all of our Armenian good names. When will these fraudulent behavior Stop? Here we are, 99.999999999% of Armenians. paying our taxes, respecting the rule of law of our adoptive country (USA), working day in and day out to bring justice for the memory of our 1.5 million massacred kin, and then....BANG...another criminal group gets arrested and shames us once again. I hope these criminals rot in their cells. These are Not Armenians but low life criminal thugs.

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