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ARMENIAN MOB 'GODFATHER' ARMEN KAZARIAN GETS SWEETHEART DEAL FOR MASSIVE MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME
BY Scott Shifrel
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/06/07/2011-06-07_armenian_mob_godfather_armen_kazarian_gets_swee theart_deal_for_massive_medicare_.html
June 7 2011
An Armenian mob "godfather" who was facing a life sentence for a
massive Medicare fraud scheme has cut a 3-year sweetheart deal with
prosecutors.
The "vor" - an Armenian word similar to the word "don" used for
Italian mob lords - admitted Monday to making threats and other
crimes in exchange for the light sentence. The final details of the
plea were put off for a week.
"I was involved in a criminal conspiracy," Armen Kazarian, 47, said
through a translator.
He and dozens of other Armenian gangsters were charged last October
with setting up at least 118 "phantom" clinics that, with stolen I.D.s,
ripped off more than $35 million in federal funds.
Federal District Judge Paul Gardephe cautioned Kazarian that he could
not appeal if he was "sentenced to 37 months or less." Kazarian agreed.
After 20 minutes of protracted translations, however, Gardephe stopped
the plea as incomplete.
"I'm not hearing the element of a (racketeering) conspiracy," he
told prosecutors.
"We're having a devil of a time translating from English to Armenian
to English again," famed Californian defense lawyer Mark Geragos told
the judge.
Gardephe granted Kazarian and prosecutors another week to work on
the language.
When prosecutors crached the ring, they said the Armenian mob "puts
the traditional Mafia to shame."
So far, only two others - Rafik Terdjanian and Karen Aharonian -
have pleaded guilty.
Charges in the takedown were also filed in California, Georgia,
New Mexico and Ohio, against more than 70 other mobsters.
In all, they falsely billed the government for $160 million.
BY Scott Shifrel
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/06/07/2011-06-07_armenian_mob_godfather_armen_kazarian_gets_swee theart_deal_for_massive_medicare_.html
June 7 2011
An Armenian mob "godfather" who was facing a life sentence for a
massive Medicare fraud scheme has cut a 3-year sweetheart deal with
prosecutors.
The "vor" - an Armenian word similar to the word "don" used for
Italian mob lords - admitted Monday to making threats and other
crimes in exchange for the light sentence. The final details of the
plea were put off for a week.
"I was involved in a criminal conspiracy," Armen Kazarian, 47, said
through a translator.
He and dozens of other Armenian gangsters were charged last October
with setting up at least 118 "phantom" clinics that, with stolen I.D.s,
ripped off more than $35 million in federal funds.
Federal District Judge Paul Gardephe cautioned Kazarian that he could
not appeal if he was "sentenced to 37 months or less." Kazarian agreed.
After 20 minutes of protracted translations, however, Gardephe stopped
the plea as incomplete.
"I'm not hearing the element of a (racketeering) conspiracy," he
told prosecutors.
"We're having a devil of a time translating from English to Armenian
to English again," famed Californian defense lawyer Mark Geragos told
the judge.
Gardephe granted Kazarian and prosecutors another week to work on
the language.
When prosecutors crached the ring, they said the Armenian mob "puts
the traditional Mafia to shame."
So far, only two others - Rafik Terdjanian and Karen Aharonian -
have pleaded guilty.
Charges in the takedown were also filed in California, Georgia,
New Mexico and Ohio, against more than 70 other mobsters.
In all, they falsely billed the government for $160 million.