Hollywood pawn shop owner accused of money laundering, operating without license

The owner of a Hollywood pawn shop is facing federal charges for allegedly laundering drug money through his businesses and failing to have the proper licenses to act as a money transmitting business.

Andrey Perov, 38, of Miami, owned the Hard Rock Giffies pawn shop in Hollywood since 2020 and Bee Pawn LLC in Miami since 2016, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Tuesday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of Perov’s alleged money laundering through the shops after a separate case in Broward County Circuit Court where a defendant pleaded guilty to charges related to trafficking narcotics in 2019. That defendant told law enforcement that beginning in 2015, Perov’s co-conspirator, who is not named in the complaint, had previously laundered money from the defendant from selling drugs.

Working with law enforcement, the confidential defendant contacted Perov’s co-conspirator and said he had $110,000 of drug money remaining and wanted to launder it, but the co-conspirator refused and instead offered to connect the unnamed source with Perov, the complaint said. The co-conspirator said Perov bought gift cards in exchange for cash.

The unnamed source recorded an in-person conversation with Perov in January 2021 and told Perov that the money was “dirty money” from selling drugs, the complaint said.

“I don’t want it to come back and haunt me,” the unnamed source told Perov. “This is dirty money. You know, this is drug money that I did … a while back.”

When the source told Perov the money was from selling pills, Perov replied, “Pills? Okay. No, I don’t judge,” the complaint said. Perov allegedly agreed to laundering the $110,000 through his pawn shops and to wire the money to the source’s bank account. That bank account was controlled by law enforcement.

Perov told the source to work with his assistant for future laundering, and the source met with and recorded conversations with the assistant, the complaint said. In one meeting, the assistant acknowledged that Perov knew the money was from selling drugs.

The unnamed source told Perov’s assistance about a second unnamed confidential source who “dealt with ‘gift cards,'” the complaint said. Law enforcement bought $540,000 worth of gift cards to use in the investigation.

The second unnamed source met with Perov’s assistant in December 2021 and gave $40,000 worth of gift cards while recording their conversation, the complaint said. Several times the source said he or she fraudulently got the gift cards. The source gave Perov’s assistant about $540,000 worth of gift cards for $460,000 in exchange.

Law enforcement contacted Perov’s co-conspirator in September 2023 to ask for cooperation, and he or she agreed. The co-conspirator said Perov allegedly acknowledged multiple times that he needed to have a money transmitting license for his pawn shops but never got either the federal or state license, according to the complaint.

All money orders handled through the shops were fraudulent, the co-conspirator said, and an estimated 70% of gift cards were fraudulent.

“The co-conspirator advised that Perov’s businesses accepted gift cards and money orders from persons who were suspicious,” the complaint said. “The co-conspirator explained that he/she believed that most of the gift cards/money orders being sold to Perov’s stores were the result of criminal activity, because of how the business operated.”

Typically, those who were selling large amounts of gift cards or money orders did not provide photo ID. Sometimes male customers even provided a woman’s ID when asked for ID, the co-conspirator told law enforcement.

Perov kept a ledger of all transactions and information associated with them, according to the complaint. The ledger showed Perov’s shops redeemed about $53 million worth of gift cards and money orders between 2017 and February 2024.

“The search also revealed that some of the top customers were listed by what were apparently false names to hide their true identity,” the complaint said. “The names listed on the online ledger included Tom Hanks, Michael Jackson and Fats Fatz.”

Perov’s initial appearance in court was Wednesday. His detention hearing is scheduled for March 27.

Federal prosecutors said in a news release Thursday that he faces up to 20 years in federal prison related to the conspiracy to commit money laundering charge and up to five years in prison related to the operating a money transmitting business without a license charge.