By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
A retired FBI agent in Lafayette, Calif., has been arrested on allegations of providing sensitive law enforcement information to a lawyer with ties to Armenian organized crime in exchange for more than $200,000 in cash bribes and gifts, the Justice Department announced.
Babak Broumand, 53, who retired from the FBI last year after serving 20 years as a special agent, is expected to make his first appearance Monday morning in a federal court in San Francisco.
From early 2015 to most of 2017, Broumand is accused of accepting bribes averaging $10,000 a month by a man who became a licensed lawyer in 2016. In the complaint, the lawyer is identified as CW1, or cooperating witness 1.
“Broumand and CW1 conspired and agreed that Broumand would perform official acts and omit to do acts, query law enforcement databases, provide CW1 with non- public law enforcement sensitive information and protection, and assist CW1 in CW1’s efforts to evade detection by law enforcement,” according to the affidavit in support of the complaint.
“Our nation is based on the premise that public officials – especially federal law enforcement officials – place the country and her people above their own self-interest, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna says in a news release. “This former FBI agent stands accused of violating this sacred trust by providing help to criminals simply to fund his lavish lifestyle. The complaint outlines a long-running and multi-faceted scheme that tarnished the badge that was the symbol of his oath to uphold the law.”
Added Paul Delacourt, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, “The FBI takes allegations of misconduct or criminal activity by its personnel very seriously. While these are disturbing allegations, we found no evidence to suggest this went beyond an isolated incident. The agents who investigated this case did so with professionalism and objectivity.”
