Financial Fraud: Four Persons Arrested Credit Card Bust-Out Scheme

<h2>Fourth Defendant Arrested in Credit Card &OpenCurlyQuote;Bust-Out’ Scheme that Spent &dollar;2 Million on Luxury Watches&comma; Liquor&comma; Cars and Cemetery Plots<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>LOS ANGELES – With the surrender this morning of the final defendant&comma; federal authorities have taken into custody four people named in a grand jury indictment that alleges a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;bust-out” scheme in which the defendants fraudulently charged nearly &dollar;2 million in less than a year to credit cards often opened with &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;synthetic identities&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Gayane Hakobyan&comma; 69&comma; of Hollywood Hills&comma; was taken into custody this morning and is expected to be arraigned on the indictment this afternoon in United States District Court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Previously in this case&comma; Mikayel Hovhannisyan&comma; 36&comma; of North Hollywood&comma; surrendered on December 3&period; The other two defendants in the case – Mikayel Hmayakyan&comma; 41&comma; of Glendale&semi; and Vahan Aloyan&comma; 43&comma; also of Glendale – were arrested on November 20&period; During their arraignments&comma; all three of these defendants entered not guilty pleas and were freed on bond&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defendants allegedly conspired to carry out a wide-ranging credit card fraud scheme&comma; using the fraudulently obtained cards to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of liquor and luxury watches&period; The 22-count indictment alleges a bust-out scheme in which the defendants obtained credit cards – sometimes under their real names&comma; but often with synthetic identities created with a combination of real and fictitious information – that were run up to the credit limit&period; Members of the scheme then allegedly &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;paid down” by submitting payments from accounts with insufficient funds or through fake accounts to restore the credit line&comma; which allowed them to make additional purchases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All four defendants allegedly used the fraudulently-obtained credit cards to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars in alcoholic beverages on behalf of the now-closed Liquor Spot in Glendale&comma; where Aloyan was a manager&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The indictment also charges Hmayakyan with bank fraud for using fraudulent credit cards in the names of various aliases – including &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Liam Sarcozzy” – to purchase plots at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale&comma; which he then sold at a profit&period; Hmayakyan is also accused of conspiring with others to fraudulently apply for loans under an alias to obtain a Kia Optima and in a real person’s name for a 2016 Lexus GX460&period; The indictment alleges that Hmayakyan never intended to pay any credit card bills nor made any payments on the loans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the execution of a search warrant in 2016&comma; law enforcement seized more than 37&comma;000 bottles of alcoholic beverages&comma; worth approximately &dollar;300&comma;000&comma; from the Liquor Spot&period; They also seized nearly &dollar;13&comma;000 in U&period;S&period; currency from the store&comma; as well as nearly &dollar;13&comma;000 and 37 watches and other jewelry items from Aloyan’s residence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All four defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and 10 counts of bank fraud&period; Hmayakyan is charged separately with six additional counts of bank fraud&period; Hmayakyan and Aloyan also are charged with possessing &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;unauthorized access devices&comma;” which included credit cards&comma; debit cards&comma; bank account information and Social Security numbers belonging to other people&period; Hmayakyan is also charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Each count of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud carries a statutory maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison&period; The charge of possession of unauthorized access devices carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years&period; The aggravated identity theft charges carry a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>United States District Judge George H&period; Wu has scheduled a trial in this case for early January&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime&period; Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Glendale Police Department&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Poonam G&period; Kumar of the Major Fraud Section&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Credit Card FraudFinancial Fraud