LOS ANGELES – A brazen scheme to illegally unlock and unblock cellphones, raking in tens of millions of dollars, has landed a former T-Mobile retail store owner in federal prison for ten years. Argishti Khudaverdyan, 44, of Burbank, was sentenced today after a federal jury found him guilty on 14 felony counts related to the multi-year fraud.
The operation, spanning from August 2014 to June 2019, targeted not only T-Mobile but also Sprint, AT&T, and other carriers. Khudaverdyan exploited a loophole in how carriers “locked” phones tied to contracts, and “blocked” lost or stolen devices, turning a profit by selling access on the black market. The scheme directly deprived T-Mobile of revenue from service contracts and equipment installment plans, and fueled the resale of potentially stolen goods.
Khudaverdyan wasn’t some basement operator; he ran a sophisticated network, advertising his services through brokers, email solicitations, and websites, falsely claiming the unlocks were “official” T-Mobile procedures. Even after T-Mobile terminated his contract in June 2017 due to suspicious activity at his Eagle Rock Plaza store, Top Tier Solutions Inc., he continued the fraud, proving his dedication to the illicit profits.
The method was as cunning as it was criminal. Khudaverdyan didn’t just hack systems; he preyed on people. He obtained T-Mobile employee credentials through phishing emails disguised as legitimate correspondence and by socially engineering the IT Help Desk. He harvested employee information, unlocking hundreds of thousands of phones by impersonating authorized personnel. The scope of the breach was staggering – compromising the credentials of over 50 employees nationwide.
Prosecutors painted a damning picture of Khudaverdyan in a sentencing memorandum, describing him as “a sophisticated fraudster with no remorse for his crimes.” The evidence clearly showed the scale of his greed: over $25 million in illegal proceeds, funneled into real estate purchases in Burbank and Northridge. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson didn’t mince words, sentencing Khudaverdyan to 120 months in federal prison and ordering him to pay a staggering $28,473,535 in restitution.
The jury convicted Khudaverdyan of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, two counts of accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value, one count of intentionally accessing a computer without authorization to obtain information, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. This case serves as a stark warning: exploiting vulnerabilities in the telecom industry will be met with a full force of federal law enforcement.
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Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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