However, Chawla was adamant that this was the subject for her.Īfter completing her engineering degree in India, Chawla immigrated to the United States in the 1980s and became a naturalized citizen to continue her studies.

When selecting the course, professors tried to dissuade her, as there were limited opportunities for girls in India following this career path. During her earlier education in India, Chawla attended Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal.Ĭhawla obtained a degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College. Īnyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. Schleifer of the Major Frauds Section is prosecuting this case. The United States Secret Service also provided substantial assistance.Īssistant United States Attorney Adam P.

The SBA Office of Inspector General and NASA Office of Inspector General are investigating this matter.

Hovanesian fraudulently caused the SBA to transfer via interstate wire EIDL proceeds totaling $151,900.Īfter Hovanesian pleads guilty, he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. But Hovanesian instead applied those proceeds toward his own prohibited personal benefit to repay a personal real-estate debt and fund his illegal marijuana cultivation. Hovanesian certified to the SBA under penalty of perjury that he would “use all the proceeds” of the loans for which he applied and caused others to apply for “solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by disaster” consistent with the terms and limitations of the EIDL program. Hovanesian admitted to making false and fraudulent statements in the loan applications concerning the gross revenues each of the businesses had generated in the preceding year as well as false and fraudulent statements concerning his intended use of loan proceeds. Hovanesian is expected to make his initial court appearance on August 11.Īccording to the plea agreement, from June 2020 to October 2020, Hovanesian submitted three loan applications in the names of business entities under his control to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL), a program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provided low-interest financing to small businesses, renters, and homeowners in regions affected by declared disasters, including businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the information and a plea agreement were filed Thursday in United States District Court. LOS ANGELES – A NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) employee has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding a government-sponsored loan program designed to help people and businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impact and has admitted that he used part of the proceeds to fund illegal marijuana cultivation, the Justice Department announced today.Īrmen Hovanesian, 32, of Glendale, a cost-control and budget-planning resource analyst for the JPL, a federally funded research and development center operated by the California Institute of Technology for NASA, agreed to plead guilty to a single-count information charging him with wire fraud.

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