LOS ANGELES — A federal courtroom jury on Thursday convicted a Bay Space man who was an FBI particular agent of conspiring to simply accept no less than $150,000 in money bribes from a lawyer with ties to Armenian organized crime, authorities mentioned.
Lafayette resident Babek Broumand, 56, was convicted on two counts of bribery of a public official, one depend of conspiracy and one depend of financial transactions in property derived from specified illegal exercise, U.S. Lawyer Martin Estrada of the Central District of California mentioned in an announcement.
Proof on the 11-day trial confirmed Broumand accepted money, checks, personal jet flights, a Ducati bike, resort stays, escorts, meals and different gadgets of worth from the organized crime lawyer, Estrada mentioned.
He was remanded into federal custody and is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Decide R. Gary Klausner on Jan. 30, 2023. He faces most sentences of 15 years in federal jail for every bribery depend; 10 years for every illegal cash transactions depend; and 5 years for every conspiracy depend.
The jury discovered Broumand not responsible of 1 depend of bribery of a public official and one depend of financial transactions in property derived from specified illegal exercise.
In line with Estrada, Broumand was an FBI particular agent from January 1999 till search warrants had been searched on his enterprise and residential in 2018. He was accountable for nationwide safety investigations from the FBI’s area workplace in San Francisco.
Estrada mentioned that in return for the bribe funds, Broumand performed regulation enforcement database inquiries and used them to assist the organized crime lawyer and his associates keep away from prosecution and monitoring. Authorities recognized the lawyer solely as E.S.
Broumand helped E.S. by informing him whether or not a selected particular person or entity was underneath prison investigation, Estrada mentioned. Broumand would inform E.S. to “keep away” from an individual or that they had been “OK,” in line with Estrada.
To hide their work, Estrada mentioned Broumand made it seem as if E.S. was working as an FBI supply. Broumand wrote stories after the very fact to make it look as if he’d performed respectable regulation enforcement database inquiries, Estrada mentioned.
E.S. paid Broumand no less than $150,000 in money and test bribes, in addition to different equipment valued at greater than $36,000, Estrada mentioned. The bribes had been deposited into the accounts for Love Bugs LLC, a Lafayette-based lice-removal hair salon enterprise that Broumand and his spouse began in 2007.
At one level early within the scheme, in line with Estrada, E.S. requested Broumand to question the FBI database for Levon Termendzhyan, an Armenian organized crime determine for whom E.S. had labored. The database search revealed an FBI investigation in Los Angeles.
Estrada mentioned courtroom paperwork confirmed Broumand accessed the FBI case file on Termendzhyan repeatedly in January 2015 and once more in Might 2016.
A federal jury in Utah discovered Termendzhyan responsible in March 2020 on prison costs associated to a $1 billion renewable gasoline tax credit score fraud scheme, Estrada mentioned. He nonetheless awaits sentencing on these costs.
Broumand additionally interfered with an FBI investigation into Felix Cisneros Jr., a corrupt particular agent with the Division of Homeland Safety Investigations. Cisneros additionally had ties to Termendzhyan. Cisneros was convicted at trial in 2018 for his corrupt acts with Termendzhyan and once more earlier this 12 months for his corrupt acts with E.S., Estrada mentioned.
Cisneros is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 17.