Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

LOS ANGELES – A North Hollywood man has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an unlicensed gun broker by selling 16 rifles and handguns – many without serial numbers – as well as various firearms accessories over a seven-week period.

In a plea agreement filed today in United States District Court, Arthur Muradyan, 32, of North Hollywood, agreed to plead guilty to engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license.

Muradyan also agreed to plead guilty to distributing methamphetamine for selling nearly a pound of the drug to an undercover operative.

Muradyan “willfully offered to, and did, sell firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition, including: machineguns; semiautomatic firearms with large capacity magazines; firearms bearing no legitimate manufacturer’s mark or serial number (commonly referred to as “ghost guns”); and unregistered and unserialized short-barreled rifles,” he admitted in the plea agreement. Many of the guns had been trafficked from Las Vegas.

The firearm sales were made to an informant working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives between August 11 and September 29, 2021.

Muradyan sold 423.7 grams of methamphetamine to the informant on September 8, 2021, the same day he also sold a semi-automatic 9mm handgun and a machinegun conversion device commonly called a “Glock switch.”

After the last gun sale on September 29, 2021 – in which Muradyan sold a short-barreled AR-15-type rifle with no serial number that also had a 3D printed machinegun conversion device attached to it, another AR-15-type rifle with an obliterated serial number, a semi-automatic 9mm handgun, and another 9mm pistol with no serial number – authorities search his residence and recovered 23 firearms, assorted magazines and ammunition of various calibers, and firearms component parts and accessories. Muradyan illegally possessed those seized firearms and ammunition because he previously had been convicted of felony burglary offenses in two cases.

The court has not yet scheduled a date for Muradyan to formally enter his guilty pleas.

Once he pleads guilty, Muradyan will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for the narcotics distribution offense, as well as a maximum statutory penalty of five years for the firearms-related offense.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Los Angeles Firearms Trafficking Strike Force, which is spearheaded by the ATF and the United States Attorney’s Office. The Los Angeles Police Department provided substantial assistance in the investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Gregg E. Marmaro of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section is prosecuting this matter.