Glendale Banker Convicted of Money Laundering

The former manager of a Wells Fargo Bank in Glendale was convicted Friday of money laundering and false bank entry charges in connection with a trademark scam. Albert Yagubyan, 37, of Burbank, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, four counts of concealment money laundering and one count of false bank entries. His sentencing is scheduled for May 22. According to court evidence presented, in 2014 and 2015 Yagubyan laundered more than $1 million of proceeds from a mass-mailing scam run by co-conspirator Artashes Darbinyan, 37, of Glendale. The pair used companies called “Trademark Compliance Center” and “Trademark Compliance Office” to make fraudulent offers to trademark applicants for registration and monitoring services. Yagubyan laundered the funds by instructing subordinates at the bank to open bogus bank accounts, into which proceeds of the scam were deposited, and process fraudulent withdrawals, wire transfers and cashier’s checks for co-conspirators Darbinyan and Orbel Hakobyan, 42, also of Glendale. Darbinyan paid Yagubyan a percentage of the laundered proceeds, who in turn, made payments and promises of promotion to subordinates to induce them to conduct the fraudulent transactions. When Wells Fargo’s loss prevention office flagged the bogus accounts for closure, Yagubyan intervened to try and keep them open, the court evidence showed. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service the Internal Revenue Service investigated the case.