Bribery

     LOS ANGELES – A Bay Area man and former FBI special agent was found guilty today by a federal jury of conspiring to accept at least $150,000 in cash bribes and other items of value in exchange for providing sensitive law enforcement information to a corrupt lawyer with ties to Armenian organized crime.

          Babak Broumand, 56, of Lafayette, California, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, two counts of bribery of a public official, and one count of monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.

          United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner scheduled a January 30, 2023 sentencing hearing, at which time Broumand will face statutory maximum sentences of 15 years in federal prison for each bribery count, 10 years in federal prison for each unlawful monetary transactions count, and five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count.

          Judge Klausner ordered Broumand remanded into federal custody.

          Broumand, an FBI special agent from January 1999 until shortly after search warrants were served on his home and businesses in 2018, was responsible for national security investigations and was assigned to the FBI Field Office in San Francisco.

          According to evidence presented at his 11-day trial, from January 2015 to December 2018, Broumand accepted cash, checks, private jet flights, a Ducati motorcycle, hotel stays, escorts, meals, and other items of value from an organized crime-linked lawyer – identified in court papers as “E.S” and each man acted to conceal the true nature of their corrupt relationship.

          In return for the bribe payments and other items of value, Broumand conducted law enforcement database inquiries and used those inquiries to help E.S. and his associates avoid prosecution and law enforcement monitoring. Specifically, Broumand informed E.S. whether a particular person or entity was under criminal investigation by stating that E.S. should “stay away” from that person or that they were “OK.”

          To conceal the nature of their corrupt relationship, Broumand made it falsely appear that E.S. was working as an FBI source. Broumand wrote reports after the fact to make it falsely appear that he conducted legitimate law enforcement database inquiries.

          In exchange for the illegal inquiries, E.S. paid Broumand at least $150,000 in cash and check bribes, including a Ducati motorcycle and accessories valued at more than $36,000. The bribes were deposited into the accounts for Love Bugs LLC, a Lafayette-based lice-removal hair salon business that Broumand and his wife started in 2007.

          Soon after the bribery scheme began, E.S. asked Broumand to query the FBI database for Levon Termendzhyan, an Armenian organized crime figure for whom E.S. had worked. The database search “rang all the bells” and revealed an FBI investigation in Los Angeles, according to court documents, which note that Broumand accessed the FBI case file on Termendzhyan repeatedly in January 2015. Broumand also allegedly accessed the Termendzhyan FBI case file in May 2016.

          Termendzhyan, a.k.a. “Lev Aslan Dermen,” was found guilty in March 2020 in federal court in Utah on criminal charges related to a $1 billion renewable fuel tax credit fraud scheme. He awaits sentencing.

          In December 2015, at E.S.’s request, Broumand searched a confidential FBI database for information about Sam Sarkis Solakyan, a medical imaging companies CEO, and later warned E.S. to “stay away” from Solakyan, who was “trouble,” meaning that Solakyan was under law enforcement investigation. Solakyan eventually was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to five years in federal prison for running a scheme that submitted more than $250 million fraudulent claims through California’s workers compensation system.

          In May 2016, Broumand interfered with an FBI investigation into Felix Cisneros Jr., a corrupt special agent with Homeland Security Investigations who also had ties to Termendzhyan. Cisneros was convicted at trial in two different cases. The first trial, in 2018, resulted from Cisneros’s corrupt acts for Termendzhyan. The second trial, earlier this year, resulted from Cisneros’ corrupt acts for E.S. Cisneros is scheduled for sentencing on October 17.

          “Ensuring public confidence in those who investigate and enforce the law is paramount,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “By taking bribes and gifts from a person he knew was linked to organized crime, Mr. Broumand breached the public trust placed in him and violated his oath of office, something which simply cannot be tolerated. The FBI’s agents and staff work tirelessly every day to keep us safe, and I am proud that they partnered with our Office to ferret out this corruption.”

          “The conviction of Mr. Broumand, a veteran FBI agent who chose greed over integrity and turned his back on the oath he swore to uphold, is proof that the FBI will root out corruption of any kind, to include veteran agents within its ranks,” said Don Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. “This prosecution was the result of hard work by multiple partner agencies to work through the painful truth of having to investigate one of its own.”

          “Broumand conspired with the very types of criminals he was trusted to investigate. Today’s guilty verdict sends a clear message that no one is above the law, and any Department of Justice employee who participates in these types of schemes will be brought to justice,” said Zachary Shroyer, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Los Angeles Field Office.

          “All of us in law enforcement are held to a higher standard and this is no exception,” stated IRS Criminal Investigation Oakland Field Office Special Agent in Charge Mark H. Pearson. “The American public places high expectations on law enforcement to uphold and defend the law. While today is a blemish in our community as Babak Broumand, a former FBI Agent, was found guilty for conspiring, bribery, and money laundering; I want to emphasize and highlight the exceptional professionalism, integrity and dedication demonstrated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents, the Office of Inspector General, DOJ, the United States Attorney’s Office – CDCA, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, for their commitment to upholding the law and seeing that justice is sought in all cases regardless of a person’s affiliation. I want to thank our partners for entrusting us with this investigation, and hope that the American public sees our efforts as an example of what the good men and women in law enforcement represent.”

          The jury today also found Broumand not guilty of one count of bribery of a public official and one count of monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.

          The FBI, the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter and were assisted at trial by the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General.

          Assistant United States Attorney Ruth C. Pinkel of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Morse and Juan M. Rodríguez of the General Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.

Source-FBI

                                                                             Press Release

Two former correctional officers pleaded guilty this week to engaging in bribery and smuggling contraband into Leavenworth Detention Center.

According to court documents, Janna Grier, 36, of Horton, Kansas, previously worked as a correctional officer at Leavenworth Detention Center, a privately run, maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. Grier used her position to smuggle contraband into the prison and also solicited other prison officials to use their position to smuggle contraband into Leavenworth.

Read-Legalizing Crime and Criminality

On Jan. 25, Grier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to offer bribes and provide contraband to inmates of a federal prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced on April 28, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

-Landlords and Tenants Associations, Crime and Criminality

According to court documents, Willie Golden, 28, of Overland Park, Kansas, also previously worked as a correctional officer at Leavenworth Detention Center. Golden used his position to smuggle contraband — including tobacco, synthetic cannabinoids, cellular telephones and marijuana — into the prison in exchange for bribe payments.

Today, Golden pleaded guilty to conspiracy to accept bribes and provide contraband to inmates of a federal prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 17, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

-Law Enforcement: The Reactionary Approach

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge William J. Hannah of the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) Chicago Field Office, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Charles A. Dayoub of the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office made the announcement. 

The FBI and DOJ-OIG are investigating the cases.

Trial Attorneys Rebecca M. Schuman and Dahoud A. Askar of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the cases.

The cases are part of the Justice Department’s ongoing efforts to combat prison corruption. In addition to the above matters, the Public Integrity Section is prosecuting three other former Leavenworth officials for similar alleged conduct. See United States v. Cheyonte Harris, Case No. 2:21-cr-20054 (D. Kan.); United States v. Jaqueline Sifuentes, No. 2:21-cr-20053 (D. Kan.); United States v. Jeane Arnette, No. 2:21-cr-20063 (D. Kan.). An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

-Government Workers-A Subject of Debate

Separately, the Public Integrity Section and the FBI recently obtained convictions against three former North Carolina prison officials who smuggled contraband, including illegal narcotics, into a state facility in exchange for bribes. See United States v. Ollie Rose, III, No. 4:20-CR-96 (E.D.N.C.); United States v. Kenneth Farr, No. 4:21-CR-9 (E.D.N.C.); and United States v. Jeremy Chambers, No. 4:21-CR-38 (E.D.N.C.).

Source-FBI