By Henry Pope
LOS ANGELES (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) — The U.S. Justice Department in July seized a Los Angeles mega-mansion from the family of a former Armenian government official, who authorities said purchased the property with tens of millions of dollars in bribery payments.
Authorities settled the civil forfeiture of the 30,000-square-foot mansion, owned by the sons of Gagik Khachatryan, 68, who was once Armenia’s senior tax and customs official and held the informal title of “Super Minister,” due to his wealth.
Justice department officials said that the property was purchased in 2011 using funds from a trust that listed Khachatryan’s sons as the beneficiaries. While the sons claimed innocence behind the funds’ origins, investigators argued that it was all an elaborate ruse to launder $20 million in bribery payments by Sedrak Arustamyan, an Armenian businessman.
District Court attorneys allege that Arustamyan offered the money in exchange for favorable tax treatment for his businesses.
The mega-mansion is located within L.A.’s Platinum Triangle, an informal name for the city’s three-most affluent neighborhoods, each of which are comprised of multi-million dollar homes.
