A defendant who authorities accused of being the leader of a conspiracy that stole more than $800,000 in COVID-19 unemployment benefits has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison, the United States Justice Department announced on Oct. 3.

Robert Mirumyan, 31, of Porter Ranch, was also ordered to pay $804,579 in restitution. Mirumyan came to the attention of law enforcement when the FBI served search and seizure warrants in March 2021 at Beverly Hills-based U.S. Private Vaults, where investigators discovered a safety deposit box held in the name of Mirumyan’s wife that contained $400,000 in cash. U.S. Private Vaults, a private safety deposit box company, pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiring to launder money with its customers and has been closed since 2021.

Mirumyan pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, admitting that he oversaw the scheme.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the U.S. Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at (866)720-5721 or visiting justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.