Encino woman extradited from Montenegro to serve sentence for COVID loan fraud

LOS ANGELES — An Encino woman who fled to Montenegro to avoid serving a lengthy prison sentence for her role in a COVID-19 loan fraud scheme has been returned to the United States after spending one year as a fugitive and is expected Tuesday in a Los Angeles courtroom.

Tamara Dadyan, 43, was extradited by Montenegro and arrived in Los Angeles on Monday night. She is expected to appear Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles federal court.

According to court documents, Dadyan was a member of a Los Angeles-based fraud ring that engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $20 million in Paycheck Protection Program and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds.

Dadyan and her associates used dozens of fake, stolen or synthetic identities — including names belonging to elderly or deceased people and foreign exchange students who briefly visited the United States years ago and never returned — to submit fraudulent applications for 150 relief loans, prosecutors said.

In support of the fraudulent applications, Dadyan and her co-conspirators also submitted false and fictitious documents to lenders and the Small Business Administration, including fake identity documents, tax documents and payroll records.

She and others then used the fraudulently obtained funds as down payments on three luxury homes in California. They also used the funds to buy gold coins, diamonds, jewelry, luxury watches, designer handbags, cryptocurrency, securities and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

In June 2021, Dadyan pleaded guilty to one federal count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. She was sentenced in December 2021 to 10 years and 10 months in federal prison.

In January 2022, Dadyan fled the United States. Authorities determined she had fled to Montenegro where she joined Richard Ayvazyan and Marietta Terabelian, an Encino couple who were also participants in the scheme and who also fled after cutting their tracking bracelets following their convictions.

Ayvazyan and Terabelian, who were respectively sentenced to 17 years and six years in prison, were extradited to the United States from Montenegro in November to begin serving their sentences.

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