Glendale cigarette smuggler sentenced to more than 7 years in jail
A Glendale man was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in jail after he was convicted of heading a smuggling operation that snuck more than 370,000 cartons of cigarettes into California to avoid paying the state's cigarette tax.
The cartons were purchased by Avedis Djeredjian, 41, and others through several fake businesses, but Djeredjian only bought enough California tax stamps from the state Board of Equalization for 2,040 cartons. The stamps are required by law to be placed on each individual carton to show that that taxes have been paid before they can be sold.
The scheme, which spanned 3 1/2 years, ultimately prevented California from collecting than $3.2 million in tax revenue, according to George Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
U.S. District Judge George H. King also ordered Djeredjian to pay $3,236,617.50 in restitution and serve 87 months in jail, followed by three years of supervised release.
A federal grand jury indicted Djeredjian in 2006 in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he bought the cigarettes at lower prices, Holding said. The case was eventually transferred to Los Angeles in 2007.
Djeredjian was originally convicted in April 2008 of 15 counts, but certain counts were dismissed post-trial and he was sentenced on charges of conspiring to traffic in contraband cigarettes and structuring financial transactions.
Two other defendants in the case, Djeredjian's wife, Carmen Badrian, 36, and Roobik Ohaniansaki, 50, both of Glendale, escaped conviction.
"With the outcome of this case it should be very clear that there is no state line that will insulate illegal traffickers of cigarettes from our vigorous investigation and prosecution," said Special Agent in Charge Zebedee T. Graham of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in a statement.
It is unclear where Djeredjian will serve his sentence, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will assign him to a particular facility.
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