A Hollywood Hills man pleaded guilty Friday to pocketing more than $3.8 million in COVID-19 business-relief loans for shell companies he set up with his then-wife.
Gevork George Dagliyan, 50, entered a plea in Los Angeles federal court to one count of wire fraud.
Sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 11, at which time Dagliyan will face up to 20 years in federal prison.
According to court documents, Dagliyan defrauded Chase Bank and the U.S. Small Business Administration by submitting fraudulent applications for government-issued loans via the COVID-19 pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program from May 2020 to September 2021. The government-sponsored programs were designed to help businesses suffering from the pandemic’s economic impact.
Dagliyan admitted in his plea agreement to filing 17 applications on behalf of shell companies such as Ultimate Software Solutions, Dagliyan Co. and Ramzes Enteprises Inc. On the loan applications, Dagliyan falsely stated that each company had a specific number of employees, revenue and business expenses.
In fact, according to the plea agreement, Dagliyan knew that none of the companies had the number of employees, revenue or expenses that they represented in the PPP loan and EIDL applications. Dagliyan also lied on the back end in the PPP loan forgiveness applications that the funds had been used to pay eligible costs, when in fact he used them to pay for personal expenses, court papers show.
In total, Dagliyan — together with his ex-wife, who is identified in court documents as “Individual 1” — received a total of $3.33 million in PPP loans and nearly $539,200 in EIDL money, federal prosecutors said.