A Glendale man was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison Tuesday for running a credit card “bust out” scheme that siphoned more than $450,000 from 10 financial institutions over a period of months.
Karen Sargsyan, 49, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt to pay restitution of $450,180, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Sargsyan pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles in February to one count of bank fraud.
Between January and September 2022, Sargsyan would obtain credit cards, then initiate over-payments on the cards that would lead the financial institution to provide him additional credit. The defendant would then charge against the account up to the increased credit limit before the financial institutions realized the over-payments would not clear, federal prosecutors said.
The government requested that Sargsyan be sentenced to 21 months behind bars. The defense recommended a probationary sentence.
Federal prosecutors wrote that, according to Sargsyan’s own words, “he tried to make `easy money.’ There are, however, mitigating factors — including defendant’s efforts to care for and provide for his family and his health situation — that make a low-end sentence appropriate here.”