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California bear-suit luxury car scam ends in insurance fraud sentences for 3
Investigators said a bear costume was used to support claims on three luxury cars, and insurers lost $141,839, officials said.
- Three Los Angeles County residents—Alfiya Zuckerman, 39; Ruben Tamrazian, 26; and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32—were sentenced to 180 days in jail for felony insurance fraud, to be served through a weekend program with two years of supervised probation.
- The Department launched Operation Bear Claw after receiving claims for damage to a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Mercedes G63 AMG, and a Mercedes E350, with suspects submitting videos of an alleged bear damaging the vehicle interiors.
- Detectives executing a search warrant discovered the bear costume at the suspects' home; experts from Fish and Wildlife reviewed the footage and concluded it was "clearly a human in a bear suit."
- Zuckerman and Tamazarian must pay nearly $108,000 in restitution. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said, "Insurance fraud is a serious crime that drives up costs for consumers, and no scheme is too outrageous for us to investigate."
- A fourth suspect, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, remains under prosecution with a court date scheduled for September 2026 regarding his role in the fraud scheme.
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Humans who used bear suit to defraud car insurers sentenced to jail
Three Southern California residents were sentenced to jail after masterminding a scheme in which they staged fake bear attacks on their luxury cars, then collected more than $141,000 in insurance payouts, officials said Thursday.
·Spokane, United States
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Biologists noticed that the footage of the incident did not show a real bear, but a dressed-up person.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources62
Leaning Left11Leaning Right6Center36Last UpdatedBias Distribution68% Center
Bias Distribution
- 68% of the sources are Center
68% Center
L 21%
C 68%
11%
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