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Thirty-Three Defendants Charged With Racketeering Conspiracy, California 2023
Thirty-two people were arrested yesterday after being charged variously with racketeering conspiracy; conspiracy to commit identity theft; conspiracy to commit access device fraud; conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering; conspiracy to use a facility of interstate commerce to commit murder-for-hire; and conspiracy to engage in the unlicensed wholesale distribution of drugs, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson, and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge José M. Martinez.
A thirty-third defendant remains at large and is subject to an active arrest warrant. Ara Karapedyan, 45, Mihran Stepanyan, 29, and Artur Stepanyan, 38, were at the center of a nationwide conspiracy, with at least eighteen other persons, to conduct the affairs of a wide-ranging criminal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering.
The indictment names thirty-three defendants in all and describes an enterprise that spanned throughout California as well as in Minnesota, Ohio, and Puerto Rico. One key aspect of the alleged criminal activity described in the indictment was a multi-million dollar prescription drug diversion scheme.
Members and associates of the enterprise are alleged to have procured prescription drugs from unlicensed sources and to have resold the drugs to unknowing customers. A central figure to these allegations is David Miller, 50. Miller is alleged to be the owner and operator of a drug wholesaler called Minnesota Independent Cooperative (“MIC”) that, between 2010 and 2014, bought approximately $157 million of drugs from Mihran Stepanyan and Artur Stepanayan.
Miller and his employees allegedly knew the Stepanyans were not licensed to sell drugs and knew the Stepanyans procured their drugs through unlicensed sources. Miller and his employees nevertheless purchased the drugs from the Stepanyans’ various companies, including Panda Capital Group, Red Rock Capital, Trans Atlantic Capital, GC National Wholesale, Sky Atlantic Capital, and Nationwide Payment Solutions, and resold the drugs as legitimate products.
A separate investigation has resulted in another indictment in the Southern District of Ohio charging David Miller, Mihran Stepanyan, Artur Stepanyan, and MIC with various crimes arising from their sale of millions of dollars of illicitly-procured drugs. (United States v. Miller, et al., 15 CR 00052 (MRB) (S.D. Ohio).)
The Indictment also charges Karapedyan and his associates with engaging in the fraudulent unlicensed distribution of drugs. For instance, from 2013 through 2015, Karapedyan, either personally or through an associate, sold several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of drugs such as Abilify, Liboderm, Cymbalta, and Namenda, as well as HIV drugs such as Atripla, Truvada, and Isentress, and the cancer drug Gleevec.
Likewise, from roughly the latter part of 2014 through early 2015, Karapdyan and his racketeer co-conspirator Maxwell Starsky, 36, sold to another complicit wholesaler more than $1 million in illicitly procured drugs. Karapedyan also supplied the Stepanyans with drugs.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Organized Crime|Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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