As much as $80 billion from the COVID relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program has been stolen by fraudsters. Among them was a couple living in Tarzana who collected $18 million in loans for fake businesses in the San Fernando Valley. When a jury convicted them, Richard Ayvazyan and Marietta Terabelian took off, sending authorities on an international chase. LA Times reporter Michael Finnegan shared their story with “LA Times Today” host Lisa McRee.

Ayvazyan and Terabelian were part of the group of eight people who set up fake businesses to get PPP money. They got millions of dollars in loans, but their scheme was caught onto quickly. While they were awaiting sentencing, the couple sliced off their ankle bracelets and fled. 

“They left around Labor Day, and it was in January when the FBI agent who was in charge of the case found out that somebody had tried to log into one of the bank accounts that Richard Ayvazyan had set up for one of these fake companies that got the COVID loan,” Finnegan said. “And he could see that the internet address was in Montenegro... It turned out that they were living under fake identities using forged Mexican passports, and they had showed up right after they cut off their ankle bracelet... They had been there for almost six months by the time they were captured.”

The couple chartered a plane to take them out of the United States, bringing their dog with them, but leaving their children behind. Finnegan talked about the lifestyle they enjoyed in Montenegro.

“They had shipped a Range Rover and a BMW from California to Montenegro. They were driving around that little seaside resort town in their cars from California while they were living in this really ritzy spot called Tivat,” Finnegan shared. “The neighborhood where they got a couple of apartments was called Porto Montenegro, which is this super yacht marina. Very, very rich people, a lot of them Russians, many of them foreign. After a couple of months, they rented a villa a couple of miles away that was right on the waterfront, with a swimming pool and a beautiful view.”

Finnegan explained how the couple was captured and what awaits them once they are brought back to the United States. 

“They have this crazy capture where she was in a hair salon, and he was at a hotel in a town a few miles away. They eventually got arrested after trying to escape. And now they’re awaiting extradition and that could happen any day,” he said. “Richard Ayvazyan has applied for political asylum, but the prospects of him getting pretty bleak.”

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