LISTEN: NASA Employee Used COVID-19 Funds to Grow Cannabis

A NASA employee working within the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is facing charges that he fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief funds and used the money in part to fund an illegal cannabis growing operation.

Armen Hovanesian, a cost-control and budget-planning resource analyst for the JPL, allegedly submitted three loan applications in 2020 for businesses he controlled. Those funds from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program are intended to help small businesses, renters, and homeowners in regions affected by declared disasters, like the COVID-19 pandemic.