Armen Muradyan, Tax Evasion, California 2024

LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury has indicted Armen Muradyan, 58, a dual citizen of the United States and Armenia, for allegedly evading the payment of nearly $5.8 million in federal taxes.

Muradyan, a resident of Burbank, is charged with one count of tax evasion. He has been in federal custody since his April 9 arrest at Los Angeles International Airport on a criminal complaint in this matter.

According to court documents, Muradyan owned and operated a Burbank-based blood testing laboratory called Genex Laboratories Inc. Medicare and bank records show that Medicare paid millions of dollars in reimbursements to Genex for blood testing.

The reimbursements were wired to bank accounts in the name of an individual identified in court documents as “L.S.” – Muradyan’s long-time friend to whom Muradyan had offered to pay $2,000 per month to pretend to be Genex’s owner.

For the tax years of 2015 through 2020, Muradyan allegedly instructed L.S. to report Genex’s financial activity on L.S.’s personal income tax returns using documents that L.S. provided to his own tax preparer. The documents purportedly showed that Genex had minimal net profit or was operating at a loss, meaning the company had little or no income tax liability.

For the same period, Muradyan allegedly submitted income tax returns that reported none of Genex’s financial activity as his own and that he averaged an income of $40,000 per year. In fact, Muradyan allegedly personally received and used millions of dollars in Medicare reimbursements to support his own expensive lifestyle.

For these tax years, Muradyan’s unreported income was approximately $16,231,046, resulting in a total federal income tax due and owing by him of approximately $5,771,567, according to court documents.

Muradyan’s arraignment is scheduled for April 29 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

Defendant: Armen Muradyan, 58

Criminal Charges: One count of tax evasion

City and State: Burbank, California

Date: April 9, 2024

Outcome: In federal custody awaiting arraignment

Dollar Amounts: $5.8 million in taxes evaded, $16,231,046 in unreported income, $5,771,567 in federal income tax due and owing

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/owner-burbank-based-blood-testing-laboratory-indicted-allegedly-evading-payment-nearly