Couple convicted of COVID fraud vanish ahead of sentencing in California, FBI says

A California couple convicted in June of falsely securing $18 million in COVID-19 relief funds has gone on the run, FBI officials say.

Richard Ayvazyan, 43, and Marietta Terabelian, 37, cut off their ankle monitors and vanished from their Tarzana home, a Tuesday night FBI post to Twitter said.

They were scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 4 after convictions on conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to launder money and related crimes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Ayvazyan and Terabelian acquired the relief funds by setting up an “elaborate web” of fictitious San Fernando Valley businesses, according to the publication.

The pair then used Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan money to put down payments on “luxury homes in Tarzana, Glendale and Palm Desert, and purchase jewelry and other high-end items,” KCBS reported.

The FBI’s Los Angeles office asked anyone with information on Ayvazyan or Terabelian to call 310-477-6565.

This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Couple convicted of COVID fraud vanish ahead of sentencing in California, FBI says."