A Los Angeles man was arraigned in a San Diego federal court on Monday for allegedly masterminding a scheme through which Armenian nationals were smuggled to the United States via Russia and Mexico.

Grigor Chatalyan, 44, along with two Armenians from Glendale, are said to have charged up to $18,000 per person according to the indictment unsealed this morning, reports Fox 5 News (San Diego).

Chatalyan’s group allegedly arranged for the Armenian nationals to fly to Moscow, where they were given fraudulent Russian passports to travel to Cancun, Mexico. Once there, they would be taken to Tijuana, court documents state.

Chatalyan and his co-conspirators would procure valid U.S. permanent-resident or passport cards from within the United States and try to use those documents to pass Armenian nationals into the United States at the San Ysidro port of entry.