Couple Convicted In $18M COVID-19 Relief Scam Now On The Run
Source: AP News
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Los Angeles couple who were convicted of helping steal $18 million in COVID-19 relief funds are on the lam after cutting off their ankle monitors, the FBI said. Richard Ayvazyan, 43, and his wife, Marietta Terabelian, 37, are considered fugitives, an FBI tweet said Tuesday.
The couple, Ayvazyan's brother and a Glendale man were convicted in June of scheming to submit phony loan applications for federal COVID-19 business relief funds. They were scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 4 and were potentially facing decades in federal prison.
Four other people had pleaded guilty to various charges in what prosecutors said was a scheme that involved using fake or stolen identities to apply for loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration to help businesses struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money obtained was used for down payments on luxury homes and to buy "gold coins, diamonds, jewelry, luxury watches, fine imported furnishings, designer handbags, clothing, and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle," according to a June 29 announcement from the U.S. attorney's office. - End.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-6b016202e6417852b63a0ccd53c33f3b
Kittycatkat
(1,356 posts)appalachiablue
(41,105 posts)Kittycatkat
(1,356 posts)NewHendoLib
(60,009 posts)Kittycatkat
(1,356 posts)OneBlueDotS-Carolina
(1,381 posts)Mar a lago
Clearheadsam
(273 posts)especially Florida. Thats the favorite place for criminals to hide.
happybird
(4,589 posts)theyll be laying low in a country that does not extradite to the US.
Wonder if the cash and assets have already been seized? Or if they hid some offshore?
halfulglas
(1,654 posts)It depends on how much money they have hidden from the authorities and available to them, unless they go to ground and live modestly on cash. Spending so much so fast of their ill gotten fortune doesn't make them look very bright.
dalton99a
(81,406 posts)Armenia does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
It is a typical route of escape for Armenian criminals (U.S. to Mexico to Russia to Armenia)