More theft charges filed against the ‘Montco Madoff’

Prosecutors call him the Bernie Madoff of Montgomery County. Many of his clients just call him a thief.

But in the court system, Lower Merion-based business broker Robert L. Krikorian is known simply as a defendant facing more than 50 individual counts, including theft and writing bad checks.

Prosecutors allege Krikorian, 56, of West Conshohocken, allegedly stole more than $819,000 from customers seeking to purchase small businesses from across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland in 2010.

Even after his arrest last fall and release on $5,000 unsecured bond, he continued to bilk his client base, largely composed of Asian immigrants, they said. That prompted a judge to increase his bail to $150,000 in November and sheriff's deputies to cart him away to jail.

On Wednesday, Lower Merion police added a slate of criminal counts based on the accounts of 32 new purported victims who came forward after his initial arrest.

Reports of his initial court proceeding, in November, brought the 32 people forward and generated the additional charges, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.

Krikorian is being held in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

"We were aware that new charges would be filed," his attorney, Gregory DiPippo, said. "Mr. Krikorian is looking forward to having the charges resolved in an expeditious manner."

So are many of his clients who say they were scammed, a group that swelled to 36 Wednesday.

While each tells a different tale of broken promises from the broker, the stories all play out similarly to that of Younes Naciri, a Doylestown resident, who had hoped to buy a gas station in Conshohocken late last summer.

According to court documents, Naciri was put in touch with Krikorian's Bala Business Service via the Internet and paid the broker a 10 percent down payment on a $225,000 deal. The money came from funds he had saved during a decade of work in the U.S. Army and with private defense contractors during deployments to Germany, Iraq, and Africa.

Krikorian allegedly promised that the down payment would be placed in an escrow account and returned if the deal fell through. When Naciri decided to back out, prosecutors say, Krikorian had disappeared.

Other victims - who had attempted to buy pizza parlors and beer distributors through Krikorian's business - said they gave him retirement funds, several years of savings, or money from personal bank loans.

Prosecutors allege Krikorian spent the money on personal mortgage, car, and utility payments. Although he returned funds to some clients, the money was often supplied from down payments by others.

DiPippo declined to discuss Krikorian's reasons for defaulting on owed payments, but a lawyer who no longer represents the broker said last fall that his client had not intended to defraud anyone.

The economic downturn had hampered Krikorian's ability to pay back his customers, Raymond Quaglia said at a bond hearing in November.

Phone calls to Bala Business Service, which also does business as Krikorian Associates, were not returned Wednesday.

"For over 20 years, Krikorian Associates have managed the sale of hundreds of companies in the greater Philadelphia area," the firm's website said. "Business owners choose Krikorian Associates to sell their businesses for their experience, honesty and ability to close the deal."