A father and son are arrested by U.S. Postal Inspectors late Thursday afternoon at Los Angeles International Airport as they readied to board a flight to Russia.
Two Little Armenia residents were arrested Thursday at LAX, as they prepared to get on a plane to Moscow, on suspicion of federal fraud charges, Department of Justice officials said Friday.
Federal officials identified the father and son as Russian nationals Viktor Ryzhkin, 45, of the Little Armenia section of Los Angeles, and his son, Evgenii Ryzhkin, 22, who lived with his father.
Viktor Ryzhkin is accused of sending tens of thousands of bogus "invoices" to small business owners in California "in a shakedown scheme that caused at least 5,000 victims to send $225 to a fake company that purported to be a state agency," Justice Department officials said in a statement.
The Ryzhkins were arrested by U.S. Postal Inspectors late Thursday afternoon at Los Angeles International Airport as they readied to board a Transaero Airlines flight to Russia, according to Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A.
Viktor Ryzhkin, Evgenii Ryzhkin and two other family members each had one-way tickets to Moscow purchased on May 6, Mrozek said.
The elder Ryzhkin allegedly "targeted more than 170,000 California small business owners in a mail fraud scheme that would have brought in nearly $40 million had all of the potential victims complied with demands to send payments to 'Corporate Business Filings,' a Beverly Hills company set up and controlled by Viktor Ryzhkin," according to a federal criminal complaint filed Thursday.
Investigators believe Viktor Ryzhkin learned about the investigation of his activities in late April, Mrozek said.
Evgenii Ryzhkin is accused of "participating in a conspiracy to take over home equity lines of credit in a scheme that caused at least $1.2 million in losses" in a separate criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in L.A., Mrozek said.
"He was caught on surveillance video depositing a stolen check linked to a hijacked HELOC account," according to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint.
Both Ryzhkins were expected to make initial court appearances Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Viktor Ryzhkin is charged with mail fraud and if convicted he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Evgenii Ryzhkin is charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and if convicted he faces up to 30 years in prison for each offense, Mrozek said.
REad More... http://hollywood.patch.com/articles/father-and-son-little-armenia-residents-arrested-at-lax-and-accused-of-fraud
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