Bear-Suit Luxury Car Scam Nets Sentences
- Three people pleaded no contest in a staged 'bear suit' scheme designed to fraudulently claim luxury car insurance payouts. - Two Los Angeles-area men and a woman were sentenced to a weekend jail program plus probation after the operation. - The California Insurance Department labeled it 'Operation Bear Claw,' highlighting organized insurance fraud in the region (montreal.citynews.ca).
Three Southern California residents were sentenced after prosecutors said they used a bear suit to fake damage inside luxury cars and file insurance claims. (foxla.com) Alfiya Zuckerman, Ruben Tamrazian and Vahe Muradkhanyan each pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud and were sentenced on April 16 to 180 days in a weekend jail program and two years of probation. Two of them were also ordered to pay more than $107,000 in combined restitution. (foxla.com) Investigators said the group tried to collect nearly $142,000 by claiming a bear had torn up a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and two Mercedes-Benz vehicles in 2024. The reported attacks were tied to Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County. (foxla.com) The case turned on video the suspects sent to insurers. A California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist reviewed the footage and concluded it showed a person in a bear costume, not an actual bear, according to the California Department of Insurance. (laist.com) Detectives later served a search warrant and recovered the costume from the suspects’ home, the insurance department said. The department said insurers lost $141,839 in the scheme and named the investigation “Operation Bear Claw.” (laist.com) Insurance fraud cases like this usually begin when an insurer flags a claim as suspicious and refers it to state investigators. In this case, the California Department of Insurance said the first claim that drew scrutiny involved the Rolls-Royce. (yahoo.com) The prosecution also shows how wildlife evidence can become fraud evidence. State investigators relied on a fish and wildlife biologist to test whether the clawing and movement in the video matched a real bear. (laist.com) A fourth defendant, Ararat Chirkinian, has not been sentenced with the other three. He is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing in September 2026. (laist.com) Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said the case ended with accountability for a scheme that “looked unbelievable.” The sentence closes the criminal case for three defendants, but the state is still pursuing the remaining one. (foxla.com)
