14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this week the FBI arrested 74 members and associates of the Armenian Power (AP) gang, for being involved in a variety of crimes including identity theft, bank fraud, credit card skimming and check counterfeiting.
The majority of arrested suspects are named as defendants in two indictments returned by federal juries in Los Angeles and Orange County.
The Los Angeles indictment charges 70 defendants with criminal offenses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
According to prosecutors, a bank fraud and card cloning scheme ran by the suspects victimized hundreds of one dollar store customers in Southern California.
They managed to cause over $2 million in losses after installing skimming devices at cash registers and using the stolen magstripe data to create counterfeit cards.
The Orange County federal indictment charges 20 defendants with crimes in connection with a $10 million bank fraud scheme that targeted elderly persons.
AP members are accused of bribing bank workers for information that allowed them to take control over the accounts of their victims.
"The indictments that target the Armenian Power organized crime enterprise provide a window into a group that appears willing to do anything and everything illegal to make a profit," said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr.
"These types of criminal organizations—through the use of extortions, kidnappings, and other violent acts—have a demonstrated a willingness to prey upon members of their own community.
"As we have seen in Los Angeles and elsewhere, these groups also engaged in various fraud schemes that clearly have had a significant impact on financial institutions and their customers who have lost millions of dollars and lost their sense of security through identity theft and credit card fraud," he added.
Eleven Armenian Power members were charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney in seven separate cases and other associates linked to the gang were charged in Miami and Denver.