A Kula man arrested earlier this year for allegedly impersonating a federal agent is facing additional charges related to more than $314,000 in cash deposits in bank accounts over a three-year period.
In a superseding indictment filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, Abraham Kantzabedian, 53, is charged with 10 counts of structuring the deposits in smaller amounts to evade federal reporting requirements triggered by bank cash transactions of more than $10,000.
The cash was deposited in amounts ranging from $100 to $8,000, with all but one transaction made at Bank of Hawaii and American Savings Bank branches in Kahului and Pukalani from July 2008 to April 2010, according to the indictment.
He also faces an additional charge of making a false statement on a Bank of Hawaii credit application Feb. 8 by saying his gross monthly salary was $10,400 when it was less than that.
The new charges are in addition to the original charge of impersonating a federal law enforcement officer. He allegedly said that he was a special agent of the U.S. Department of Treasury to obtain an $11,500 law enforcement discount Dec. 14 to buy a dog trained to detect explosives.
Kantzabedian has been free on a $50,000 bond. A status conference in his case is scheduled Monday in federal court.
A federal investigation into Kantzabedian's activities began this year after a Maui police detective asked the U.S. Secret Service for help in verifying whether Kantzabedian worked as a Treasury special agent. He had approached an off-duty Maui police detective Dec. 17 in Wailuku and said that he was a Treasury Department special agent investigating international money terrorism, according to court documents.
After being confronted by police and a Secret Service special agent, Kantzabedian admitted lying about his employment and reported being unemployed, court documents show. He told law enforcement officials that he occasionally travels to Las Vegas and wins large sums of money by gambling to pay his living expenses.
His wife told investigators that she believed that Kantzabedian was a Treasury special agent "working on top secret investigations," according to court documents.
Kantzabedian had been a Maui Police Department recruit about a decade ago, although he didn't complete training to become a police officer.
The indictment seeks forfeiture of the $314,350 cash.
The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit was among investigating agencies in the case.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
