LOS ANGELES — A Glendale criminal defense attorney who provided phony information to law enforcement in order to thwart an investigation into a pills-for-profit scheme pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge.
Fred Minassian, 57, entered his plea to a single count of making a false statement to a government agency, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez set sentencing for April 19 in downtown Los Angeles.
Minassian participated in a scheme to distribute powerful prescription opioids via sham medical clinics that hired corrupt doctors who wrote fraudulent prescriptions to black market customers, prosecutors said.
The scheme’s ringleader, Minas “Maserati Mike” Matosyan, 42, of Encino, was sentenced in May 2020 to nine years behind bars after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
SAME CASE: Encino man ‘Maserati Mike’ sentenced to 9 years in prison for opioid conspiracy
Members of the conspiracy profited from illicit prescriptions that were issued without any legitimate medical purpose through a series of clinics that periodically opened and closed in a “nomadic” style, according to an indictment returned in the summer of 2017 against Matosyan, Minassian and 11 others.
Minassian admitted in his plea agreement to providing false information to police to thwart an investigation into the seizure of a load of Vicodin from one of the conspiracy’s biggest customers.
Vicodin is a combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen.
The charge against Minassian stems from May 18, 2016, when ring customer Frederick Manning, Jr. bought 140 hydrocodone pills from Matosyan in an Encino parking lot. Manning was subsequently stopped by the California Highway Patrol and the pills seized. Manning indicated to the officer that there was a valid prescription for the pills, according to the plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Unbeknownst to the defendants, the traffic stop was…
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