Encino Real Estate Broker Tamara Dadyan Third Family Member To Go On The Run In COVID Relief Fraud Case
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A third family member convicted in an $18 million COVID-19 benefits fraud scheme failed to report to serve her prison sentence and is now a fugitive, according to the FBI.
Tamara Dadyan, 42, an Encino real estate broker, was sentenced in December to nearly 11 years in prison for her part in a family-affair fraud ring. She was scheduled to surrender on Jan. 28 to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, but has been deemed a fugitive by the FBI for failing to report to serve her 121-month sentence.
Dadyan had pleaded guilty for her role in the $18 million COVID fraud scheme cooked up by her brother-in-law, Richard Ayvazyan. Ayvazyan, his wife Marietta Terabelian, and his brother and Dadyan's husband, Artur Ayvazyan, were found guilty last summer of bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in the scheme. Artur Ayvazyan was sentenced to five years in prison.
In September, the FBI says Richard Ayvazyan and Marietta Terabelian cut off their ankle monitoring bracelets and disappeared. A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to their capture. Since then, the couple was sentenced in absentia – Ayvazyan to 17 years in federal prison, while Terabelian was given a six-year prison sentence.
The FBI is asking for help to track Dadyan down. Anyone with information about her location can call (310) 477-6565.
According to the Justice Department, this was one of the first cases of pandemic relief fraud in the country to go to fraud.