For the second week in a row, the Department of Homeland Security carried out a dramatic, early-morning raid in Los Angeles targeting transnational organized crime rings. This week’s bust netted fourteen arrests from an Armenian fraud ring that investigators say stole $30 million in COVID relief and Small Business loans meant to help taxpaying Americans.
“If you are taking money from the government that doesn’t belong to you, your door could be the next one that we’re hitting,” said U.S. Attorney for California’s Central District, Bill Essayli.
Fox News was exclusively embedded with DHS in the multi-agency sting that included the IRS and the Small Business Administration.
Thirteen of the suspects are Armenian-born but have become naturalized. At least one of the suspects faces deportation.
“This is the police. We have a warrant. Come out with your hands up!” one officer’s voice echoed on a loudspeaker attached to an armored vehicle with agents inside. The special unit inside the armored vehicle first cut the chain on a gated driveway and then demanded one of the targeted suspects come out of his L.A.-area home in a sunrise bust.
Hellbound and Down 