Glendale attorney pleads not guilty in insurance fraud case

LOS ANGELES — Glendale attorney John Akopian pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 38 counts of money laundering, possession of an assault weapon and grand theft in an auto insurance fraud investigation that prosecutors said netted one the largest such busts in recent history.

Akopian, 37, and three other Los Angeles attorneys and four chiropractors collectively face more than 150 counts of insurance fraud, grand theft of personal property and false and making fraudulent claims. They are accused of defrauding 15 insurance companies by allegedly filing false claims for staged accidents. The case involves 28 defendants.

“It’s white collar crime, [it’s] not really a recession thing,” said Los Angeles County Deputy District Atty. Gregory Alker. “They’ve been doing it for years.”

But attorney Mark Geragos, who is representing Akopian, argued the years-long litigation as a sign of Akopian’s innocence.

“It’s ironic the amount of resources that have been focused on my client and a bunch of other people, residents here, when in fact the purported victim here is AIG that’s ripped off the taxpayers for hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said. “Once we’re in the courtroom, all of this will unravel and will show that John had no involvement in anything . . . . This whole thing is orchestrated by AIG and everyone else just fell into line.”

Akopian was released on $100,000 bail, which was reduced from $2 million, and is expected back in court for a Jan. 6 preliminary hearing.

Lawyers have traditionally been able to avoid being charged with intentional wrongdoing, prosecutors said. They are able to insulate themselves, relying on associates in the law firm and outside cappers who sell fraudulent personal injury information to law firms, a violation of penal and insurance codes, Alker said.

“What they’re trying to do is set it up so the lawyer can pretend he doesn’t know this action is fake,” he said. “Being able to prove a lawyer is actively involved has been very difficult up to now.”

But attorneys are often unaware the claims are fraudulent, Geragos said.

“No one tells the lawyer they’re fake [claims] because if they did, the lawyer would reject the case,” he said.

The defendants are believed to be linked to men in Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys who pleaded guilty to 15 counts of insurance fraud in February, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The men were believed to have netted millions of dollars by submitting more than 2,500 fraudulent insurance claims.

“We’ve been lucky in the sense that we’ve been able to go from the top down and get the lawyers,” Alker said.

Prosecutors allege the defendants are part of a broader conspiracy that involves more than 300 suspects, from Russian lawyers to fake Armenian claimants.

“They have this really huge network to pull in all these claimants,” Alker said.

Geragos said such an allegation represented nothing more than feeding stereotypes.

“I’ve heard that for years,” he said. “[It’s] incipient racism just because these people are immigrants.”