A commercial real estate developer was arrested on May 16 on federal bribery charges alleging that he paid monthly bribes to a Los Angeles County employee and submitted offers to purchase the employee a Santa Rosa residence for nearly $1.1 million in exchange for the developer obtaining a $45 million county lease.

Arman Gabaee, known professionally as Arman Gabay, 57, of Beverly Hills, was arrested by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The defendant is charged in a federal criminal complaint with one count of bribery.

Gabaee, a co-founder and co-managing partner of the Charles Company, a Hollywood-based real estate development firm, allegedly paid cash bribes to the county employee for more than six years. According to the complaint, the employee, who is not named and is cooperating with the FBI, negotiated leases for the county to rent office space from private parties and had “significant autonomy to contractually bind the county.”

The complaint alleges that Gabaee paid the employee cash bribes of $1,000 or more every month for six years “in exchange for county leases, nonpublic information, and other benefits.” According to the complaint, Gabaee paid the employee thousands of dollars during covertly recorded meetings in late 2016 and early 2017.

Further, in 2017, Gabaee allegedly offered to purchase a Northern California residence for the county employee in exchange for the employee’s assistance securing a county lease in the Hawthorne Mall, which Gabaee was redeveloping. According to the complaint, Gabaee wanted the county to enter into a 10-year, $45 million lease to rent space in the Hawthorne Mall for the Department of Public Social Services and other county departments.

During recorded meetings between Gabaee and the county employee, as well as phone conversations intercepted pursuant to federal wiretap orders, Gabaee allegedly offered to buy a million-dollar home for the county employee in exchange for the employee’s assistance securing the $45 million county lease. According to the complaint, when Gabaee offered to buy the residence, he promised the employee even larger bribe payments in the future, saying that things would only get “better” if the employee continued to assist with securing county contracts.

The FBI’s investigation and intercepted communications showed Gabaee taking numerous steps in 2017 to locate a property in Northern California to use as leverage to get the employee’s assistance in obtaining the $45 million county lease, according to the complaint. In April 2017, Gabaee allegedly made two offers on the Santa Rosa residence, first for $1,035,000 and later for $1,065,000. According to the complaint, after FBI agents told Gabaee they were aware of the bribe arrangement, Gabaee’s second offer on the property was withdrawn within hours.