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Case 2:20-cr-00579-SVW Document 1260 Filed 01/19/22 Page 1 of 2 Page ID #:19705
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CRIMINAL MINUTES – GENERAL
Case No. 2:20-cr-00579-SVW Date: 1/19/2022
Present: The Honorable: STEPHEN V. WILSON, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE
Interpreter N/A
Paul M. Cruz N/A N/A
Deputy Clerk Court Reporter / Recorder Assistant U.S. Attorney
U.S.A. v. Defendant(s) Present Cust Bond Attorneys for Defendants: Present App Ret
Richard Ayvazyan X N/A
Marietta Terabelian X N/A
Proceedings: ORDER MODIFYING CONDITIONS OF BOND FOR DEFENDANTS
RICHARD AYVAZYAN AND MARIETTA TERABELIAN
In previous moving papers and hearings, counsel for the absconded Defendants Richard
Ayvazyan and Marietta Terabelian have sought an order from the Court ordering the return of the
passports belonging to their children and clarifying that the conditions of their bond are extinguished –
or at least the condition requiring the surrender of their children’s passports. See Resp. to Gov’t Supp.
Sent’g Br. 15-16, ECF No. 1178; Hr’g Tr., Dec. 6, 2021 99:16-104:25.
In the Court’s order determining the restitution obligations of Defendants Ayvazyan and
Terabelian, ECF No. 1219, the Court ordered supplemental briefing from the parties on this issue, id. at
13-14, which both sides have submitted. ECF Nos. 1230, 1247.
When bond was issued for Ayvazyan and Terabelian by Magistrate Judge Otazo-Reyes in the
Southern District of Florida, where they were arrested, the conditions of bond included a provision that
they and their children surrender their passports. ECF Nos. 44, 45, 47, 48. It is unclear exactly what
happened to the children’s passports, but it appears that the government does not have them. See Hr’g
Tr., Dec. 6, 2021, 100:20-24. Counsel for Richard Ayvazyan indicated that the State Department is
refusing to issue new passports, citing the bond condition. Id. at 100:5-17.
For the reasons below, the Court modifies the conditions of bond for both Defendants to
eliminate the condition that requires their children to surrender their passports. All other conditions
remain in place.
First, the government has repeatedly reiterated that it does not have the passports of Ayvazyan
and Terabelian’s children. Id. at 100:20-24; Gov’t Supp. Br. 1, 4, ECF No. 1230. Indeed, the
government submits that Defendants never turned them over in the first place. Gov’t Supp. Br. 4. Thus,
the Court will not issue any order requiring the government to turn over something it does not possess or
again confirm in writing something that it has already confirmed – that it does not have the passports.
Criminal Minutes – General Page 1 of 2
Case 2:20-cr-00579-SVW Document 1260 Filed 01/19/22 Page 2 of 2 Page ID #:19706
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CRIMINAL MINUTES – GENERAL
Second, the Court concludes that Defendants conditions of bond are not extinguished by the
forfeiture of bail due to Defendants’ absconding. Requiring a criminal defendant to post a surety of
money or property is merely one of many conditions of pretrial release that a court may impose. 18
U.S.C. § 3142(c). A court may impose further conditions in any combination that is reasonably
necessary to ensure the appearance of the defendant and the safety of the community. Id. If a defendant
violates those conditions, it may trigger additional consequences – such as the revocation of the
defendant’s release and their detention – but a court may also continue to permit the defendant to remain
on release, whether on the same conditions as before or with modifications. Id. § 3148(b).
Defendants’ argument that the conditions of their release are dissolved by the forfeiture of their
surety bond thus makes little logical sense. Bond conditions are all intended to work in combination to
ensure the defendant’s appearance, see id. § 3142(c), and the enforcement of the consequences attached
to one such condition – forfeiture of a financial surety – would not relieve the applicability of the other
conditions. Indeed, Defendants’ argument would lead to completely perverse outcomes by which
defendants would essentially be rewarded for breaking one condition of bond by the dissolution of all
the others. Defendant cites no authority for its position, which is contrary to the structure and intent of
18 U.S.C. § 3142. Accordingly, though bail has been forfeited due to Defendants flight from
supervision, the conditions of their release remain in full force and effect.
Third, notwithstanding the previous analysis, the Court concludes that the unique circumstances
here warrant modification of Defendant Ayvazyan and Terabelian’s conditions of bond to eliminate the
condition requiring the surrender of their children’s passports. Defendants have absconded; there is no
indication of when they might return or be found. As discussed above, the conditions of bond designed
to induce Defendants’ appearance still remain in effect, and these conditions appear likely to remain in
effect indefinitely given Defendants’ flight and uncertain prospect of return. In the Court’s view, the
potential for Defendants’ children to be barred indefinitely from obtaining a passport raises serious
constitutional due process concerns that warrants the vacatur of this condition.
The Court is mindful of the point raised by the government that removal of this condition may, in
some sense, “aid [D]efendant’s flight” by permitting Defendants to arrange for their children to leave the
United States and be reunited with them – something that this Court noted the Defendants appear to
have already tried to do. See Gov’t Supp. Br. 1; Sent’g Hr’g Tr. 3:21-4:4, Nov. 15, 2021, ECF No. 1184.
Ultimately however, Defendants’ children have committed no crime, and maintaining a bond condition
whose ramification could be the indefinite preclusion of their ability to obtain a passport implicates due
process principles that take precedence.
For the foregoing reasons, the Court modifies the conditions of bond for Defendant Richard
Ayvazyan and Marietta Terabelian and eliminates the condition requiring the surrender of their
children’s passports. All other conditions shall remain in full force and effect until they are in custody.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Initials of Deputy Clerk
Criminal Minutes – General Page 2 of 2