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Food Stamp Fraud, Associated Laundering Still a Risk for Banks
By Brian Monroe
printDue diligence failures at two banks and a U.S. agency enabled a Pasadena, California, man twice convicted of food stamp fraud to steal and launder millions of dollars from the federal assistance program. Tigran Malkhasyan, 42, pleaded guilty May 24 in a U.S. district court in Los Angeles to fraud and money laundering charges. He bilked the government out of more than $6 million by buying food stamp benefits for cents on the dollar from customers at four markets he owned in the Los Angeles area. Malkhasyan moved more than $1.1 million in fraudulently obtained benefits through two bank accounts...
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