Edgar Sargsyan’s journey to bankruptcy court began with a one-way ticket from Armenia.

It descended into the underworld of Los Angeles, where he learned at the elbow of a crime figure how deals are made and dirty money can underwrite a glittering facade of legitimacy.

Sargsyan shook hands with governors and presidents at a Beverly Hills cigar club and conferred with gangsters in jail. He made a fortune through fraud and drug dealing while surrounding himself with an entourage of corrupt lawmen.

But by 2018, the fun was over, the money was drying up and Sargsyan found himself in bankruptcy court, where what remained of his companies’ assets — two jets, a penthouse in Beverly Hills and a stake in a Sharon Stone film, among others — were to be sold off.

The trustee overseeing the liquidation wasn’t sure how to address Sargsyan. “Just basically ‘mogul’? ‘Mr. Mogul’?”

Sargsyan laughed.

“You can — yeah,” he replied. “I mean, I was almost there, but something happened on the way.”

‘A hard worker, a go-getter’

Sargsyan, 41, grew up the son of a judge in a town on the outskirts of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. He studied law at the country’s top university, then worked as an aide to a member of Armenia’s National Assembly.

Through his attorney, Sargsyan declined to be interviewed. To report this article, The Times drew on Sargsyan’s testimony at two trials and in bankruptcy court, interviews with people who knew him and law enforcement and…