LOS ANGELES (KNX) — An Encino realtor was sentenced Monday to more than 10 years in prison in connection with a fraud ring that allegedly stole $18 million in emergency COVID-19 small-business loans.
Tamara Dadyan, 42, was one of eight people convicted in the scam, led by her brother-in-law Ricahrd Ayvazyan. Ayvazyan and his wife were convicted at a trial in June, but became fugitives after removing ankle monitoring bracelets and fleeing.
Ayvazyan was sentenced in absentia last month to 17 years in prison. His wife received six years. In court documents, prosecutors said the couple purchased a $3.25 million home in Tarzana with scam proceeds.
The ring filed 151 fraudulent applications for loans intended to keep small businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors alleged.
The ring created bogus businesses to obtain many of the loans, ginning up fake payrolls and forged tax returns to attach to applications. Some of those applications were submitted under the names of deceased persons.
When FBI agents raided Dadyan’s Encino home, they found fake identification cards, credit cards for sham businesses, checkbooks in the names of fraudulent loan applicants, and notary stamps and seals belonging to state and federal courts.
Prosecutors described Dadyan’s crimes as “shockingly callous.”
“The millions she stole were intended for small businesses and working families who desperately needed the money to survive as the pandemic paralyzed the economy,” they wrote in a court memo.
Dadyan pleaded guilty in June to aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. She named her husband, Artur Ayvazyan, and brother-in-law as co-conspirators.
Her husband blamed Dadyan for the fraud when he took the stand at his own trial. He was sentenced to five years in prison following conviction for conspiracy, bank fraud, and other crimes.
Dadyan and her husband are awaiting trial on other, unrelated mortgage fraud charges.
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