A.G. SAYS '70S POLITICAL REFUGEES BROUGHT IN FRAUD FROM ABROAD.Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer Since taking root in California in the 1970s and '80s, Eurasian crime syndicates have become one of the nation's most serious criminal threats, stealing billions of dollars from government-funded programs, officials say. The syndicates' members come from a dozen republics in the former Soviet Union, as well as Eastern and Central Europe. They made their way to the United States beginning 30 years ago as part of an influx of political refugees, many of whom settled in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn. A recent report by the California Attorney General's Office estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 criminals -- including former inmates of KGB KGB: see secret police. KGB Russian Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (“Committee for State Security”) Soviet agency responsible for intelligence, counterintelligence, and internal security. prisons -- were among the immigrants. Many had defrauded the governments in their native countries and simply revived the scams in their adopted homeland. When authorities began cracking down on Eurasian syndicates on the East Coast in the mid-1990s, many criminals simply moved west. "It does feel like it has something of a Whack-a-Moleeffect," Assistant U.S. Attorney Consuelo Woodhead said. "You suppress it here, and it pops up somewhere else." According to the FBI, the first major prosecution of Eurasian crime was in 1991, when the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles pursued operators in a $1 billion medical-billing scheme. The scam was headed by two Russian brothers, according to testimony by FBI Criminal Investigations Division Assistant Director Grant D. Ashley. In 1994, the ringleader ring·lead·er n. A person who leads others, especially in illicit or informal activities. ringleader Noun a person who leads others in illegal or mischievous actions Noun 1. , Michael Smushkevich, was convicted and sentenced to 21 years in prison for fraud, conspiracy, racketeering Traditionally, obtaining or extorting money illegally or carrying on illegal business activities, usually by Organized Crime . A pattern of illegal activity carried out as part of an enterprise that is owned or controlled by those who are engaged in the illegal activity. and money laundering The process of taking the proceeds of criminal activity and making them appear legal. Laundering allows criminals to transform illegally obtained gain into seemingly legitimate funds. . A year later, the self-professed "godfather" of a local mob -- Hovsep Mikaelian of North Hollywood -- was arrested and accused of running a black market diesel-fuel network. Mikaelian failed to pay $3.6 million in taxes in a single year, prosecutors said. Investigators confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. a BMW BMW in full Bayerische Motoren Werke AG German automaker. Founded as an aircraft engine manufacturer in 1916, the company assumed the name Bayerische Motoren Werke and became known for its high-speed motorcycles in the 1920s. , Jaguar, two Rolls-Royces and a boat. Mikaelian pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic in narcotics, conspiracy to commit tax evasion The process whereby a person, through commission of Fraud, unlawfully pays less tax than the law mandates. Tax evasion is a criminal offense under federal and state statutes. A person who is convicted is subject to a prison sentence, a fine, or both. , and wire, mail and telecommunications fraud. He was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and was released in November. But the first significant Eurasian organized-crime investigation in the U.S. involved Vyacheslav Ivankov, who was convicted in 1996 of extortion and conspiracy for trying to extort To compel or coerce, as in a confession or information, by any means serving to overcome the other's power of resistance, thus making the confession or admission involuntary. To gain by wrongful methods; to obtain in an unlawful manner, as in to compel payments by means of threats of money from a Wall Street investment firm. He was sentenced to about nine years in prison. Considered a major underworld figure in the U.S., Ivankov was released from prison in 2004 and deported to his native Russia, where he remains a powerful figure in the criminal underworld and has significant ties to criminal groups in California, according to the attorney general's report. "He's kind of credited of being the creator of the American-Russian Mafia," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department This article is about the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department, not to be confused with the smaller Los Angeles County Police The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is a local law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. Sgt. Stephen P. Opferman. troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com (213) 974-8985 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Samvel Melkonyan, 49, seen here during a hearing at the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building on May 2, is charged with using identity theft to defraud the county for medical services. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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