The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the arrest of 11 people, mostly Southern California residents, involved in a complex fraud scheme where property titles of elderly victims were allegedly stolen for the sake of securing millions of dollars’ worth of loans.
Nearly all defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, while other additional charges range from aggravated identity theft to money laundering.
Stolen identities were allegedly used 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, IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office.
Operation Hard Money
U.S. Attorney’s Office
According to the federal grand jury indictment, from January 2021 to May 2023, Nazaret Chakrian and Arnold Moradians, both from Hollywood, stole personal identifying information of elderly victims who owned properties in Santa Monica, Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Westwood, and Chinatown.
They then created fake identification documents and email accounts in the victims’ names to impersonate them. With the assistance of the other suspects, they misrepresented themselves as the victims’ agents, brokers, representatives or relatives and fabricated documents, such as bank statements, rental agreements, doctors’ notes, and death certificates to secure hard money loans from private lenders.
Stolen identities were also used to open bank accounts under fake names, with the accounts used to funnel funds from the scheme.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the total intended loss in this case is approximately $17.4 million, and the total actual loss is approximately $6 million.
“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 Field Office.
The following suspects were arrested on Thursday, March 19:
Nazaret Chakrian, 65, of HollywoodArnold Moradians, 57, of Hollywood Avetis Hekimyan, 38, of North HollywoodRoss Tarkhan, 32, of GlendaleTigran Hovanesian, 56, of GlendaleArmen Vardevaryan, 55, of North Hollywood; Craig Higdon, 66, of Naples, FloridaHelen Spangler, 62, of Oakdale, CaliforniaVictor Lossi, 43, of Thousand Oaks Marine Sarkisian, 49, of HollywoodCynthia Borjas, 51, of Koreatown
More from CBS News