An elaborate scheme involving 11 perpetrators, stolen identities and title fraud has resulted in $6 million in lender losses and criminal charges against the alleged scammers, according to new court documents.
Federal prosecutors arrested the defendants, who were arraigned in Southern California and Florida courts late last week, following a grand jury indictment in February.
Led by California businessmen Nazaret Chakrian, the defendants face a total of 15 different criminal charges, including conspiracy,
Prosecutors accuse the defendants of stealing personal identifiable information of elderly Southern California homeowners and creating false documents and email accounts to get loan applications secured by victims' properties approved by private money lenders. The lenders later unknowingly disbursed funds to accounts opened by the defendants with synthetic IDs.
The total actual loss from the crimes clocked in at approximately $6 million. Total intended loss had all fraud attempts succeeded came in near $17.4 million.
"The defendants didn't just steal identities, they used those stolen identities to secure high value real estate loans, fabricate financial documents and move millions of dollars through a maze of fraudulent businesses and funnel accounts," said Tyler Hatcher, special agent in charge of the IRS criminal investigation Los Angeles field office, in a press release.
"Our agents traced every wire, every transfer and every shell account to expose the financial backbone of this conspiracy," he continued.
If found guilty, the defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each
Details of the alleged scam
Along with Chakrian and Moradians, eight accomplices all face a single count of conspiracy to commit and seven charges of wire fraud. Eight of the defendants were accused of aggravated identity theft, and four face a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. A single defendant, Ross Tarkhan, was indicted on all charges, including five counts of money laundering.
According to court filings, the group would create counterfeit identification documents with PII obtained from their homeowner victims, allowing them to obtain title documents and open up email accounts in their name. Using victims' IDs, some of the defendants also misrepresented themselves as agents, brokers or relatives of the victims in applying for loans backed by their properties from private money lenders.
The crimes took place for over two years between 2021 and 2023, the court documents said.
"The growing problem of title fraud victimizes homeowners and lenders, many of whom are elderly and have their identities stolen, in addition to their hard-earned money," said Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office.
To obtain loan approval, several of the perpetrators created fake documents with the stolen IDs, such as bank statements, rental agreements and even doctors' notes and death certificates, to deceive lenders about the false borrowers' assets, finances, health and intended purpose behind the transaction.
Once loans were approved and closing documents received, forms were illegally notarized by defendants and signed by purported representatives of the homeowner victims.
Furthermore, Tarkhan used stolen PII to create synthetic IDs, documents that combine fictitious information with identity data of real individuals, to open bank accounts under phony names. With new business accounts opened and controlled by the fraud perpetrators, defendants were able to direct lenders to funnel proceeds derived from the scheme to themselves.
The four lenders targeted for fraud by the defendants were not named in court proceedings. The perpetrators opened the fraudulent accounts, to which proceeds were delivered, at several well known financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo.
Listed as accomplices of Chakrian, Moradians and Tarkhan were Avetis Hekimyan, Tigran Hovanesian, Armen Vardevaryan, Craig Higdon, Helen Spangler, Victor Lossi, Marine Sarkisian and Cynthia Borjas.
The criminal case appears after research last year
