Date: April 10, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
LOS ANGELES — Three Glendale men and one San Fernando Valley man have been arrested on federal charges of conspiring to distribute various drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and ketamine on darknet marketplaces, the Justice Department announced today.
The Wednesday arrests are the latest in the Justice Department’s ongoing JCODE (Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement) efforts to address the growing number of illicit vendors operating on the darknet providing large quantities of harmful substances to thousands of people across the United States.
On April 1, a federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment which outlines 116 overt acts that were done in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy, and which charges Davit Avalyan of Glendale; Hrant Gevorgyan of Glendale; Hayk Grigoryan a.k.a. “Hayk Greg,” of Glendale; and Gurgen Nersesyan a.k.a. “Guro Tiko,” of Sherman Oaks for their alleged roles in operating the drug distribution network which operated approximately 10 darknet vendors on 17 different markets.
All four defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA (ecstasy).
Avalyan is charged with one count of distribution of cocaine, one count of distribution of MDMA, and one count of distribution of distribution of methamphetamine. Gevorgyan is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute MDMA and one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine. Grigoryan is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Nersesyan is charged with three counts of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and one count of possession with intent to distribute MDMA.
The defendants were arraigned Wednesday in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. They pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and a June 3 trial date was scheduled in this matter.
According to the indictment, from September 2018 to February 2025, various vendors operating under the names JoyInc, LaFarmacia, WhiteDoc, JanesAddiction, DaShop, WhiteRepublic, Tomorowland, PlanetHollywood, DopeValley, and Major2Minor sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine to drug customers on darknet markets in exchange for cryptocurrency. The defendants then allegedly shipped the drugs throughout the United States via the United States Postal Service.
The defendants fulfilled drug orders through the various vendor accounts by packaging the drugs into parcels and by delivering those parcels to post offices and mailboxes in Los Angeles County and elsewhere.
JoyInc is believed to have been operating since at least 2018 and is one of the most prolific methamphetamine and cocaine distributors to ever operate on the darknet.
An example of vendor JoyInc on the Drughub marketplace selling ketamine, MDMA, and bulk options of cocaine on Sept. 4, 2024, is depicted below.
In addition to Wednesday’s arrests, agents served multiple federal search warrants and found evidence to include large amounts of cash, distribution amounts of suspected drugs.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
If convicted of all charges, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
The Justice Department established the FBI-led JCODE team to lead and coordinate government efforts to detect, disrupt, and dismantle major criminal enterprises reliant on the darknet for trafficking opioids and other illicit narcotics, along with identifying and dismantling their supply chains.
This case was worked jointly with the ibet Criminal Investigation (ibet-CI), United States Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Hawthorne Police Department, and the Costa Mesa Police Department. During yesterday’s arrests and searches, assistance was provided by the Los Angeles Police Department.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
This case also is part of an operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
Assistant United States Attorney James Santiago of the Transnational Organized Crime Section is prosecuting this case.
ibet-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the ibet, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. ibet-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.