Pair indicted in fake check scam

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

Two men were indicted Tuesday in Las Vegas on charges of passing $800,000 in fraudulent cashier's checks to the MGM Grand drawn from the same fictitious California bank branch that a Michigan man was using to create $12 million in counterfeit checks.

Jimmy Leung, who is in federal custody in Las Vegas, and Aziz Massomipour, who is a fugitive, were named in the five-count indictment that charges them with conspiracy, possession of counterfeit securities, fraudulent use of identification documents, fraudulent use of a credit card and bank fraud.

Leung and Massomipour are charged with obtaining and attempting to pass four $200,000 checks on June 13, 2002. They are further alleged to have obtained false credit cards and identification cards in an attempt to get the checks cashed.

Omar Shishani, a Dearborn, Mich., native, pleaded guilty in April to possessing $12 million in counterfeit cashiers checks drawn on the same fake bank branch that Leung and Massomipour used in their scheme.

Shishani was arrested on July 17 at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight from Indonesia carrying nine bogus checks. Shishani was accused of conspiring with Leung and Massomipour, who prosecutors say made the checks.

The checks were sent to Shishani while he was in Indonesia, and he tried to cash some of them there.

Five other men, Asatour Magzanian, Jaman Khan, Mohammad Nadery, Hans Walton and Henry Davis, were previously charged in the Las Vegas case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Damm said.

Walton, Magzanian, Davis and Khan all pleaded guilty to counterfeit check charges in the case. Nadery was recommended for pretrial diversion and, if he completes a term of supervised release, charges against him will be dropped.