Californian guilty in check fraud

Jace Radke

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004 | 9:19 a.m.

A California man was found guilty in U.S. District Court Wednesday of being a part of a conspiracy to pass $800,000 in counterfeit checks at the MGM Grand.

A jury found Jimmy Leung guilty of conspiracy, possessing counterfeit securities, fraudulent use of false identification and bank fraud. He was found not guilty of a charge of fraudulent use of fake credit cards.

Leung and Aziz Massomipour, who is a fugitive, were indicted in connection with trying to pass the checks on June 13, 2002. The men met with a person they thought was a casino host with the MGM who was interested in helping them to illegally cash the counterfeit checks -- but the host was actually an undercover Metro Police detective, Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Greg Damm said.

Fake Discover cards and driver's licenses were used in the attempt to get the checks cashed, Damm said.

The checks were drawn on a fictitious California bank branch in Pomona, Calif. The plan was for Leung and Massomipour to keep half of the money from the cashed checks, with the other half going to the detective, who was playing the role of the casino host, Damm said.

Four other men, who were to act as runners and cash the checks at the casino, were also charged in the case, and all pleaded guilty to possessing counterfeit securities.

Asatour Magzanian was sentenced to six months of home detention and five years of probation last year in connection with the case, while Jaman Khan was sentenced to two years in prison. Hans Walton and Henry Davis have not yet been sentenced.

A seventh defendant, Mohammad Nadery, was recommended for pretrial diversion and placed on supervised release, Damm said. If Nadery completes his supervised release all charges against him will be dropped.

Leung is scheduled to be sentenced in April, and his sentence will be determined by using federal sentencing guidelines.