By Lookout Staff

March 24, 2025 -- Eleven defendants were arrested last Thursday and charged in a scheme to steal the identities of elderly victims and obtain title reports to properties that included Santa Monica homes, according to Federal prosecutors.

The defendants, who included two foreign nationals, then used the title reports to solicit $6 million in hard money loans from private lenders with an intended loss of $17.4 million.

All the defendants except one are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and seven counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles County.

If convicted, the defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each fraud and money laundering-related count, prosecutors said. They also face two years in federal prison for the aggravated identity theft count.

“There is no shortage of massive fraud occurring within California,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. Thursday's operation, he said, "represents one of many sophisticated schemes used by criminals -- including foreign nationals -- to defraud U.S. citizens and taxpayers of their hard-earned property."

"These defendants will be facing significant prison time for their charged conduct,” Essayli said.

Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said that “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.”

From January 2021 to May 2023, Nazaret Chakrian, 65, a.k.a. “Niko,” of Hollywood, and Arnold Moradians, 57, a.k.a. “Julian,” of Hollywood, an Iranian national who has an outstanding warrant for removal from the U.S., fraudulently obtained the personal identifying information (PII) of elderly victims, prosecutors said.

The victims owned properties in Santa Monica and in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Westwood and Chinatown, according to an indictment a federal grand jury returned on February 5.

Using the victims’ PII, fraudulent ID documents and fraudulent email addresses, Chakrian, Moradians and other defendants "misrepresented themselves as the victims’ agents, brokers, representatives or relatives."

The scheme involved creating "false and fabricated documents -– including bank statements, rental agreements, doctors’ notes, and death certificates," prosecutors said.

"These documents contained lies about the victims’ identities, assets, finances, and health as well as the loan proceeds’ intended purpose, and the types of properties being used to secure the loans."

The closing documents from the lenders were then "fraudulently notarized and signed by individuals representing the victims."

Synthetic documents were created and used to open bank accounts under false names used to funnel proceeds from the scheme, prosecutors said.

“The defendants didn’t just steal identities, they used those stolen identities 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.

“Our agents traced every wire, every transfer, and every shell account to expose the financial backbone of this conspiracy," Hatcher said.

The case is being investigated by the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force (EOCTF) and the Los Angeles Police Department –- Commercial Crimes Division.

The EOCTF includes agents and task force officers from the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the Glendale Police Department.