Thirteen Members and Associates of Transnational Organized Crime Groups Charged in South Florida

Six Indictments Returned in Miami, Los Angeles, and Denver Allege Widespread Criminal Conduct by More Than 100 Members of Armenian Power and other Groups

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigation Division; Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office; Gregory McCann, Acting Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Miami Field Office; and Fred Maas, Chief, Sunny Isles Beach Police Department, announced the unsealing of three indictments against 13 individuals, charging them with a variety of crimes, including extortion conspiracy, credit card fraud, money laundering, smuggling of firearms, marriage fraud, and health care fraud. Multiple other members and associates of Armenian Power (AP), an international organized crime group, with its leadership based in Los Angeles, were also arrested today in the Los Angeles area and Denver in related actions. Today, teams of federal, state, and local authorities around the country arrested 81 of the 102 charged defendants with arrests expected to continue throughout the day.

In Miami, three separate indictments charge the following 13 defendants: Aram Khranyan, 41, of Sunny Isles Beach; Armen Mkhitaryan, 38, of Sunny Isles Beach; Karen Sarkissian, 37, of Sunny Isles Beach; Gegam Kalashyan, 41, of Hallandale Beach; Azizaga Salimov, 29, of Hallandale Beach; Andranik Itchmelyan, 48, of Davie; Anahit Karapetyan, 40, of Davie; Vladimir Okun, 44, of Davie; Harvey Lerfelt, 51, of North Miami Beach; Frank Rodriguez, 52, of North Miami Beach; Andrey Shchegolev, 49, of Hollywood; Mira Shatkhin, 35, of Sunny Isles Beach; and Tammy Summers, 44, of Hollywood. According to court documents, several of these defendants maintain associations with members and associates of AP, as well as with a "Thief-in-Law" who was arrested in the Southern District of New York in October 2010.

According to court documents, Khranyan directed and supervised an organized criminal group consisting of Mkhitaryan, Sarkissian, Kalashyan, Salimov, Itchmelyan, and Okun (the Khranyan Organization), which operated domestically and internationally. Court documents further allege that Khranyan had meetings with a "Thief-in-Law" in Miami and Las Vegas, Nevada. The term "Thief-in-Law" refers to a member of a select group of high-level criminal figures from Russia and the former Soviet Union who receives tribute from other criminals, offers protection, and uses his recognized position of authority to resolve disputes among criminals. Khranyan is also alleged to have met with a leader of Armenian Power in Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Court documents also allege that the Khranyan Organization maintained ties to Russia and Armenia through Khranyan.

U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer stated, "Organized crime relies on extortion and the intimidation of victims through violence and fear. Today's takedown has removed 100 members and associates of organized crime groups from the streets of Miami, Los Angeles, and Denver. We stand firm in our resolve to help eliminate organized criminal activity, be it domestic or transnational."

John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Miami Office, said, "The impact on Eurasian Organized Crime is not just from the sheer number of arrests today but from disrupting their criminal influence in our community. Although the investigations in Miami and Los Angeles are in different parts of the country, today's takedown is an example of the FBI's ability to conduct cross-program, multi-divisional, and multi-agency investigations targeting a national level threat."

"In this investigation, IRS special agents followed the money trail through a series of fraudulent credit card transactions disguised to defraud financial institutions," said Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation Division. "We are united with the rest of the law enforcement community in our resolve to dismantle criminal organizations that commit crimes against our society and economy."

ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge in Miami Anthony V. Mangione said, "ICE special agents have unique and wide array of investigative authorities in detecting, deterring, and dismantling criminal organizations. In this investigation, ICE HSI special agents determined that Aram Khranyan entered in a false marriage to obtain permanent legal status in the United States in an attempt to further his criminal enterprise operations. Time after time, we see criminal organizations exploit the vulnerabilities in the immigration system. ICE will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners in disrupting these criminal organizations who pose a threat to national security and public safety and to preserve the integrity of the immigration process."

Allison Suliveras, Assistant Director of Field Operations for Customs and Border Protection, added, "Our CBP officers and the rest of our sister agencies participating in this investigation have proven themselves to be models of law enforcement partnership and given an outstanding example of the very real effect that these joint efforts can have on criminal activity."

"The Sunny Isles Beach Police Department is proud to have been a part of this successful joint operation between federal and local law enforcement. These efforts protect our citizens from international criminal enterprises that threaten our personal safety and economic well-being," said Fred Maas, Chief of Police for the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department.

The first indictment (Case No. 11-20125-CR-Jordan) charges nine defendants in 32 counts. Counts 1 and 2 charge defendants Khranyan, Salimov, Kalashyan, Sarkissian, Mkhitaryan, and Itchmelyan with conspiring to commit extortion. These counts allege that between December 9 - 24, 2009, the defendants threatened physical harm to an individual, identified as Victim 1, to obtain repayment of a debt. The indictment identifies Khranyan as the one who coordinated and directed the co-defendants in the commission of the extortion. Counts 3 and 4 of the indictment allege a scheme, from July 2009 to the present, in which Khranyan, assisted by defendants Summers and Salimov, entered into a sham marriage with defendant Mira Shatkhin so that Khranyan could fraudulently obtain permanent legal status in the United States. Counts 5 through 28 charge two of the defendants (Sarkissian and Mkhitaryan, individually) with credit card fraud in 2008 and then laundering the credit card fraud proceeds. Lastly, Counts 29 - 32 charge three defendants (Itchmelyan, Kalashyan, and Okun, individually) with transporting numerous firearms in 2009 from the United States to Yerevan, Armenia, without obtaining the appropriate license.

The remaining two indictments unsealed today in Miami (Case Nos. 11-CR-60027-WPD and 11-CR-20126-JAL) allege health care fraud schemes running from 2007 to the present. Case No. 11-CR-60027-WPD charges three defendants (Itchmelyan, Karapetyan, and Rodriguez) with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and substantive counts of health care fraud in connection with their ownership and operation of Hallandale Medical Associates Inc. Case No. 11-CR-20126-JAL charges another three defendants (Okun, Shchegolev, and Lerfelt) with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and substantive counts of health care fraud in connection with their ownership and operation of Family Chiropractic Center Inc. Both of these clinics allegedly paid individuals to refer "patients" of staged accidents. The clinics billed private automobile insurance carriers for treatments that were either not medically necessary or were not provided.

In related separate actions in Los Angeles, two indictments charge 88 defendants with a wide variety of violent and fraud-related crimes. The alleged crimes include kidnapping, extortion, assault, witness intimidation, bank fraud, credit card fraud, and drug distribution.

Finally, in an indictment unsealed today in Denver, another defendant was charged with conspiring with others to make false statements to the United States on credit and loan applications. The indictment charges that the defendant, acting under the control of a transnational criminal group, established a shell company and then used that shell company to apply for business and personal credit cards, car loans and leases, consumer loans, and a home equity loan.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, IRS, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations in Miami, CBP's Office of Field Operations, and Sunny Isles Beach Police Department. Valuable assistance was also provided by the Criminal Division, International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center, Miami-Dade Police Department, North Miami Beach Police Department, Hallandale Beach Police Department, United States Secret Service, United States Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom. These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Huynh and Cynthia Stone and Criminal Division Trial Attorneys Margaret Honrath, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section; and Constantine Lizas, Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.

An Indictment is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.