LA Court Employee Sentenced In Document Leak Case
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former federal court employee was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison for accessing and leaking confidential information to tip off suspected criminals, including Armenian Power gang members.
Nune Gevorkyan was sentenced to six months in prison, while her husband, Oganes Koshkaryan, was sentenced to four years and nine months, according to federal prosecutor Martin Estrada. The pair each pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy and Koshkaryan was convicted on other charges, including health care fraud and identity theft.
They each will also serve three years of federal probation, Estrada said.
Gevorkyan worked as a clerk for two years where criminal documents are filed and looked at sealed indictments before raids on Armenian Power associates across Southern California in February 2011 that led to the arrests of more than 70 people. In one instance, Koshkaryan warned one of his relatives, a member of Armenian Power, about the upcoming arrests, prosecutors said.
Most of the charges filed in those cases dealt with white-collar crimes.
Authorities said Koshkaryan acted as an intermediary who promised he could get confidential information from the court system in exchange for cash.
A records search revealed Gevorkyan had accessed sealed court documents in at least two ongoing investigations.
A defendant in the Armenian Power case told FBI about the couple while seeking a reduced sentence.
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