John Akopian of the Law Offices of John Akopian & Associates in Glendale, Calif., is one of five lawyers identified in an insurance fraud scheme that netted more than $450,000 for 300 people. He originally was charged with 38 counts, including insurance fraud, grand theft of personal property, money laundering, receiving stolen property and possession of an assault weapon. The additional counts were filed after 10 men and women were arrested on March 30 for conspiring with Akopian to defraud an insurance company of more than $74,000 through three staged accidents.
The case involves associates of Alexander Igor Gutman, the owner of a body shop in Sherman Oaks, Calif., who allegedly received millions of dollars by staging 2,600 “paper accidents” between November 2002 and January 2008. Gutman pleaded guilty to 15 counts of insurance fraud in 2009 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 15.
