WASHINGTON — Call it a family affair in fraud.
A California clan accused of stealing $18 million in COVID-19 relief funds — money prosecutors said was used to bankroll a lavish lifestyle featuring a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, diamonds and high-end real estate — has become the face of a new Senate push targeting what lawmakers are calling “fraudster families.”
The case drew national attention after two relatives, Richard Ayvazyan and his wife, Marietta Terabelian, removed their ankle monitors and left behind their three children with a farewell note as they fled the United States following fraud convictions. The couple was later captured in Montenegro.
Now, years after the headline-grabbing escape, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has spearheaded the Senate DOGE Caucus, is using the saga to press for legislation aimed at blocking relatives of convicted fraudsters from tapping into federal assistance.
Her proposal, titled the No Cash for Cohabitating Kins of Crooks Act, would prevent people who live with convicted criminals or individuals barred from receiving federal grants, loans, subawards or reimbursements from collecting those same taxpayer-funded benefits.
The bill does include exceptions, including protections for spouses who do not live with the offender and for survivors of domestic abuse.
“Committing fraud is literally all relative for these families of felons,” Ernst told The Post. “My latest investigation found schemes sprouting from family trees across the country, with kin teaming up to rip off taxpayers to the tune of $50 million.”
Ernst, the retiring Republican from the Hawkeye State, spotlighted 15 such “fraudster families” in her August Squeal Award, a monthly callout she uses to draw attention to alleged government waste, fraud and abuse — branding the group a “shady bunch.”
At the top of the list was the California family.
Ayvazyan and Terabelian were later caught in Montenegro and are now serving out a 17-year and a six-year prison sentence, respectively.
The couple had teamed up with former Los Angeles-area real estate broker Tamara Dadyan — Ayvazyan’s sister-in-law — and her husband Artur Ayvazyan on the scheme.
Using stolen identities from foreign exchange students as well as elderly and dead people, they swindled $18 million in COVID-19 relief funding before being caught and convicted in 2021.
A presiding judge had slammed Ayvazyan, the ringleader, as a “cold-hearted fraudster” who “views fraud as an achievement” during sentencing.
Ernst also cited a family conviction in the infamous $250 million Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme in Minnesota, in which Gandi Yusuf Mohamed and five family members swindled over $10 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program.
That money had been intended to feed 5 million needy children. One of the Mohamed family members had an infamous meeting with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, which drew scrutiny from congressional Republicans.
Another case cited was the Edwards family, who were living in Florida when they concocted a bogus family ministry to seek $6 million from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic.
An elderly, supposedly dementia-stricken accountant allegedly greenlit the family’s request but gave some $8.4 million, as the Edwards claimed to have over 500 employees. Most of the family got away without being charged, including the father, Evan, a pastor who was deemed incompetent to stand trial.
The son, Josh, was sentenced to four years and three months behind bars earlier this year.
The retiring senator also highlighted a case of four “grifting grandmothers” — all of whom are sisters — who snatched some $11.5 million from the Department of Agriculture by furnishing some 200 false claims for farm aid.
They splurged on six-figure homes, fancy cars, and more. But the feds later determined the grandma thieves “in most cases, had not even attempted to farm.” They were then hit with some 115 fraud counts.
Ernst’s list also included a Washington state family that feigned caregiver roles to take $1.1 million from the Veterans Affairs Administration. The fraud revolved around Kelly Lee-Carroll, who claimed she was partially paralyzed and couldn’t walk. She had her sister and son serve as caretakers.
Ultimately, she was sentenced to 17 months and her son to 14 months for the scheme.
The senator’s list totals $50 million in stolen money by “fraudster families.” Her No Cash for Cohabitating Kins of Crooks Act is the latest piece of legislation she’s unveiled to target government waste, fraud, and abuse.
“Their next scam-ily reunion will be in the slammer,” Ernst further chided.
