INDICTMENT & MORE

The investigation started after it was revealed that personal information on 2,900 Medicare patients, including their Social Security numbers in upstate New York were reported stolen. One of the fake clinics was run from a small office over Coney Island auto body shop. Two Queens doctors and a worker at the Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn were part of the gangster network. The U.S. district attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara declared that the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian organization, a syndicate in New York and Los Angeles run by Armenians, used threats, intimidation and violence operating in a classical mafia style. Bharara said "This Armenian group allegedly employed a raft of rackets, extortion, credit-card fraud, identity theft, immigration fraud, and even distribution of contraband cigarettes and stolen Viagra" The penalties range from 10 years to life in prison. The defendents will be tried in the states where they have been indicted.

Indictment by the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (download as PDF)

Department of Justice Press Release, October 13, 2010 (download as PDF)