The two Southern California brothers have been arrested for scamming the government with a $2.7 million fraud through a scheme targeting community relief funds and small business loans.
The suspects were identified as Nolly Madadi, 40, of Burbank, and Vazrik Madadi, 44, of Glendale, according to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.
The crimes accused occurred between March 2020 and April 2021. According to the indictment, Norai is a banker at Wells Fargo and opened a fraudulent account in the name of a shell company and a stolen or fake identity.
The brothers have won millions of dollars through loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury and Disaster Loan Program, prosecutors said.
They are accused of filing loan applications with fake and stolen identities, along with false statements about income, operations and employees. Two of the victims of the stolen ID were developmentally disabled and lived in long-term care facilities, court documents said.
Through this scheme, the pair stole around $2.7 million. They spent their funds on personal bank accounts and reportedly spent money at the casino to buy luxury cars and jewelry.
On July 9th, the brothers were taken into custody. Both were charged with one conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two wire fraud, and three counts of money laundering.
Additionally, Norayr was charged with one count of identity theft and one count of making false statements to government agents.
If convicted, they could be up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud-related count, and up to 10 years at each money laundering count. Norayr also reaches up to five years with false statements and two years with aggravated identity theft.
They pleaded not guilty at a July 9 arrest hearing. The judge was released to Noraih on a $25,000 bond, while Vazrik on a $50,000 bond. The trial date is scheduled for September 2nd.
The case is under investigation by the FBI.
Source link
