LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Sunland man who fraudulently obtained almost $3 million in COVID-19 business loans and jobless benefits has been sentenced to 63 months in federal prison, officials announced Wednesday.
Arman Grigoryan, 42, was sentenced late Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who also ordered him to pay $2.88 million in restitution, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Grigoryan pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He has been in federal custody since July after a court determined he had violated the terms of his pretrial release, court papers show.
"When confronted with the COVID pandemic that has claimed the lives of almost 7 million persons worldwide to date, (Grigoryan) instead saw an opportunity to bilk taxpayers out of the emergency funds their government generously made available to ameliorate job losses," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed in Los Angeles federal court. "Such criminal opportunism during a global health and economic emergency is egregious."
During 2020 and continuing through late September of that year, Grigoryan and others used other people's identities to apply for unemployment insurance benefits through California's Employment Development Department. Once EDD approved the fraudulent applications, a bank issued to Grigoryan and his accomplices debit cards containing the funds intended for the false identities. Grigoryan and others then used those debit cards to withdraw cash.
Grigoryan and associates also used other people's identities and shell companies to apply for loans intended to help businesses weather the economic fallout from the pandemic. They did so by submitting falsified payroll information and attaching forged tax forms as support, evidence shows.
Once the banks approved the business loans, Grigoryan and his accomplices then rapidly withdrew the COVID business relief funds by writing checks to co-conspirators and shell companies, and by withdrawing the funds in cash.
In total, Grigoryan caused at least $2.88 million in actual losses through the conspiracy, prosecutors said.
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