History and Hollywood are littered with the interesting and often almost fantastical names of FBI operations. “Operation Chaos”, “Operation Bot Roast”, and “Operation Big Coon Dog” are but a tiny sampling of the creativity of federal operation nomenclature. But “Operation From Russia With Love” may be one of the best yet.
Chiropractor Boris Zigmond, a Russian native who splits his time between Michigan and Florida, was arrested recently while at his wife’s Hollywood condo. Zigmond is accused of having made millions by selling vast quantities of pain pills to dealers, who in turn supplied street addicts by the thousands.
Federal Investigators claim that Zigmond used patient recruiters who, in turn, found both addicts and drug dealers who were willing to pay $500 or more per visit. Then, in the same way that an online dating site attempts to match suitable romance partners, Zigmond would match the “patients” with doctors who routinely wrote prescriptions for pain pills. And not just any pain pills. The good stuff. The highly addictive and harder to come by variety.
How red flags were avoided
It is estimated that Zigmond earned almost six million dollars just in the last few years. But how does one earn so much money and not raise red flags at the IRS? According to the FBI, Zigmond used every member of his family to disguise his incoming assets from the prying eyes of the law.
Zigmond was arrested and detained down in Florida, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hunt bound him over for trial, and denied him bond. According to the judge, Zigmond is a potential danger to the community, along with being a flight risk.
But because half of Zigmond’s business was conducted right here in Michigan, authorities are looking to prosecute here as well. Zigmond will be transported by U.S. Marshals up to Detroit where he will face federal charges.