Eight Charged In International Cargo Theft Conspiracy

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging eight defendants-VAGAN GULIAN, ZHIRAYR GUMRUYAN, SEVAK KOCHARIAN, ARAIK SETRAKIAN, VITALY KOSHELAN, ARKADIY PASTIN, JASHANPREET SINGH, and EDGAR BEZHANIAN-with conspiracy to transport and possess stolen property in connection with an international, organized scheme to steal cargo from commercial shippers.

GULIAN, GUMRUYAN, and SETRAKIAN were arrested in California and will be presented in the Central District of California; KOSHELAN was arrested in Florida and will be presented in the Southern District of Florida; SINGH was arrested in Pennsylvania and will be presented in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; PASTIN was arrested in New York and will be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron; and KOCHARIAN is in custody in connection with a pending case and will be presented in the Southern District of New York. BEZHANIAN is at large. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter.

"As alleged, the defendants were members of a sophisticated, international enterprise whose members stole millions of dollars' worth of merchandise and sold those stolen goods on the black market," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. "Organized cargo theft is an attack on the integrity of our nation's commercial supply chain and our markets more generally. Those who conspire to disrupt commerce and harm consumers will be met with a coordinated law enforcement response. Our Office is committed to ridding our supply chains of organized crime, and we will pursue those who exploit global commerce for illicit gain."

"These eight defendants allegedly were members of an international network to steal merchandise and resell these stolen goods at the direct expense of sellers, shippers, and buyers," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. "The FBI's Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force works to dismantle illegal operations designed to generate illicit profits both domestically and internationally."

As alleged in the Indictment and documents submitted to Court:

Between in or around March 2023 and the present, the defendants, together with others known and unknown, carried out a large-scale, organized scheme to steal cargo from commercial shippers (the "Cargo Theft Enterprise"). In total, the Cargo Theft Enterprise stole goods worth at least approximately $10 million. The Cargo Theft Enterprise operated throughout the United States and targeted high-value merchandise including electronics, liquor, meat, fish, eggs, clothing, skincare products, and cryptocurrency mining machines, among numerous other items. The defendants and other members of the Cargo Theft Enterprise perpetrated their scheme by diverting, possessing, transporting, and selling numerous loads of stolen merchandise. The Cargo Theft Enterprise relied on the coordinated efforts of at least one "dispatcher" located abroad and facilitators, drivers, and workers located in the United States.

In a typical theft, at least one member of the Cargo Theft Enterprise fraudulently impersonated a legitimate shipping carrier, or other shipping supply chain personnel and companies, to obtain a contract to transport goods from a shipping company to a customer. Other members of the Cargo Theft Enterprise then picked up the load or otherwise diverted the truck containing the load away from its intended destination, including by altering the delivery address and other information on shipping paperwork, and by removing geolocation tracking devices affixed to shipped cargo to track its location and ensure it reaches its proper destination. Once the truck reached the Cargo Theft Enterprise's intended destination, members of the scheme offloaded and sold the stolen merchandise-including to co-conspirators known as "fences," who knowingly purchased and resold stolen merchandise on the secondary market-for an illicit profit.

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VAGAN GULIAN, 37, of Glendale, California; ZHIRAYR GUMRUYAN, 36, of Northridge, California; SEVAK KOCHARIAN, 37, of Brooklyn, New York; ARAIK SETRAKIAN, 36, of Los Angeles, California; VITALY KOSHELAN, 56, of Dania Beach, Florida; ARKADIY PASTIN, of Brooklyn, New York; JASHANPREET SINGH, 29, of Oaklyn, New Jersey; and EDGAR BEZHANIAN, 46, of Yerevan, Armenia, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to transport and possess stolen merchandise, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

KOCHARIAN is separately charged with one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. That case is pending before U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI's Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force. Mr. Clayton also thanked the New York City Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the Port Authority Police Department, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The case is being handled by the Office's General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Grossinger and David Steinbach are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.