Fourteen people, including several Southern California residents, were arrested Wednesday, May 28, and accused of scamming the government out of more than $25 million in COVID-19 relief funds and federal small business loans, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Two federal criminal complaints named 18 defendants, four of whom are believed to be in Armenia and haven’t been arrested. The defendants are charged with conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims; false, fictitious or fraudulent claims; wire fraud and attempted wire fraud; bank fraud and attempted bank fraud; money laundering conspiracy and other charges related to money laundering.

The defendants include a 42-year-old Tujunga man accused of leading a scheme in which he encouraged leaders of sham corpor

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