Jun 30, 2026 · 36 min · 19 segments
Investigative reporter Michele McPhee explores the shocking web of corruption surrounding this case. She talks to producer Jake Otajovic to unravel a few of The Boys’ own outrageous criminal cases…
Michelle McPheeHostJake OtayovichGuestI can't wait to get into this part of the story, because it really feels like it's straight out of a gritty, old-school crime film full of seedy cops conspiring in the background, but the thing is it's real.
Most of the people we are talking about today have pleaded guilty or have been convicted of bribery and other crimes.
And, you know, we've been digging through these court records, you and I now, for more than a year, and for me, years.
So there's so much salacious details in here about what these dirty cops did.
did.I think let's start at the very beginning about how the boys, as Jacob knew them, how they were first brought together.
It's a cigar bar called The Grand Havana Room, and that's where Edgar Sargisian hangs out.
Edgar drives to work every day on Rodeo Drive in a law firm that he ran in a Rolls-Royce Phantom.
The only problem is it wasn't really a law firm because Edgar was not really a lawyer.
Turns out he had paid someone to take the California Bar for him, and then he set up shop on the most exclusive street in Los Angeles, Rodeo Drive, and he spent most of his time in this fancy nightclub.
What he really was was a credit card fraudster who was running what they call a pump-and-dump operation out of that fake law firm.
He would steal the identities of J-1 visa holders that were in the country temporarily, and he would open credit cards in their name and jack 'em up.
On his law office walls, he had these photos of these very important political figures.
There's something very LA about that, isn't there? Like, just, just sort of this fake veneer of power and influence, but it's all dirty cash that he stole.
So Edgar had a close relationship with Levon, and at the same time, he was out there doing his own credit card fraud thing and trying to spread that money around to get himself access to powerful people, and in places like The Havana Club, he came across people like Babak Bromand, an FBI agent, and so that's where their relationship started.
I can't wait to get into this part of the story, because it really feels like it's straight out of a gritty, old-school crime film full of seedy cops conspiring in the background, but the thing is it's real.
Most of the people we are talking about today have pleaded guilty or have been convicted of bribery and other crimes.
And, you know, we've been digging through these court records, you and I now, for more than a year, and for me, years.
So there's so much salacious details in here about what these dirty cops did.
did.I think let's start at the very beginning about how the boys, as Jacob knew them, how they were first brought together.
It's a cigar bar called The Grand Havana Room, and that's where Edgar Sargisian hangs out.
Edgar drives to work every day on Rodeo Drive in a law firm that he ran in a Rolls-Royce Phantom.
The only problem is it wasn't really a law firm because Edgar was not really a lawyer.
Turns out he had paid someone to take the California Bar for him, and then he set up shop on the most exclusive street in Los Angeles, Rodeo Drive, and he spent most of his time in this fancy nightclub.
What he really was was a credit card fraudster who was running what they call a pump-and-dump operation out of that fake law firm.
He would steal the identities of J-1 visa holders that were in the country temporarily, and he would open credit cards in their name and jack 'em up.
On his law office walls, he had these photos of these very important political figures.
There's something very LA about that, isn't there? Like, just, just sort of this fake veneer of power and influence, but it's all dirty cash that he stole.
So Edgar had a close relationship with Levon, and at the same time, he was out there doing his own credit card fraud thing and trying to spread that money around to get himself access to powerful people, and in places like The Havana Club, he came across people like Babak Bromand, an FBI agent, and so that's where their relationship started.
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