LOS ANGELES – A former California lawyer has pleaded responsible to 1 felony depend of wire fraud for falsely representing to his shoppers that he obtained favorable authorized resolutions for them, after which perpetuating the scheme by delivering shoppers fraudulent paperwork, some with the solid signatures of judges, and by making disguised phone calls to them.
Shant Ohanian, 36, of Pasadena, entered his plea on Thursday earlier than U.S. District Choose John A. Kronstadt, who scheduled a September 12 sentencing listening to. Ohanian faces a statutory most sentence of 20 years in federal jail.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Workplace of Skilled Accountability and the California State Bar.
In accordance with his plea settlement, Ohanian was a licensed California lawyer from January 2012 till he was disbarred in December 2017. Starting in Could 2012, Ohanian and his co-conspirator engaged in a scheme to defraud Ohanian’s shoppers by claiming he obtained favorable authorized resolutions for them, when in truth the favorable resolutions had by no means been obtained, and, in lots of instances, Ohanian had by no means initiated a authorized motion, court docket papers state. In some instances, Ohanian’s deception induced his sufferer shoppers to thoroughly lose their alternative to acquire important monetary or authorized treatments on account of wrongs suffered by them, in response to court docket paperwork.
Ohanian admitted in his plea settlement to defrauding a number of victims, together with one sufferer who employed Ohanian in July 2013 to help within the restoration of a $500,000 deposit associated to a failed industrial actual property transaction for an Ontario purchasing middle. Through the course of that litigation, Ohanian falsely knowledgeable the sufferer that the sufferer had prevailed within the case and would obtain $1.2 million in damages plus penalties, the plea settlement states.
In February 2016, Ohanian offered the sufferer with a counterfeit test for $1,925,477, which a financial institution later rejected, court docket papers state. Ohanian denied the test was counterfeit and in March 2016 he offered the sufferer with a test for $7,244,211, which additionally was rejected as counterfeit. Ohanian additionally falsely knowledgeable the sufferer that he was representing the sufferer in a parallel chapter continuing involving the Ontario purchasing middle, and he supplied the sufferer phony chapter court docket pleadings, together with orders that contained the solid signature of a United States chapter decide, in response to court docket paperwork.
Ohanian additionally admitted to creating a number of spoofed phone calls to the sufferer during which he claimed to be both financial institution officers or authorities officers. He additionally falsely knowledgeable the sufferer that he would purchase the Ontario purchasing middle at a reduced worth in lieu of a money settlement, and that the sufferer wanted to make funds for again taxes and overdue mortgage funds as a way to purchase the property, and to make “unpaid court docket charges” to Ohanian despite the fact that no such charges had been owed, court docket paperwork state. Between March 2016 and September 2017, the sufferer paid Ohanian $2,839,875 primarily based on Ohanian’s false representations that the cash can be used to amass the purchasing middle, in response to court docket paperwork.
Ohanian admitted to victimizing different shoppers, together with a lady who suffered severe accidents in a fall at South Coast Plaza mall in Orange County, and for whom the statute of limitations had expired within the case earlier than she realized Ohanian had defrauded her. Ohanian admitted to sending the sufferer a phony settlement settlement from the mall and, after she threatened to report him to the State Bar of California, a test for $25,000 that turned out to have been cancelled. He additionally falsely represented to shoppers searching for immigration reduction that he had obtained essential authorized resolutions associated to their skill to reside and work within the U.S.
Ohanian’s victims suffered precise losses of greater than $4 million.
Ohanian’s spouse, Silva Sevlian Ohanian, has been charged with one depend of wire fraud in a associated case. She has pleaded not responsible to the cost and is presently scheduled to go to trial on July 16.
This matter is being prosecuted by U.S. Legal professional, Central District of California’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Part.