Boardman man gets 20 years in arson-for-profit scheme

CLEVELAND

A federal judge has sentenced a key defendant in a Mahoning Valley arson-for-profit scheme to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay $778,649 in restitution to three insurance companies.

U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells imposed the sentence Thursday on Majeed Bazazpour, 46, of Boardman, and remanded him to the immediate custody of U.S. marshals.

After a two-month jury trial, Bazazpour was convicted in March of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, arson and money laundering, and aiding and abetting each of those crimes.

Bazazpour belonged to three interrelated criminal conspiracies involving a scheme to defraud insurance companies and obtain money by setting nine fires at Mahoning and Trumbull county businesses, a U.S.

attorney said.

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