The business dispute in China allegedly triggered a bizarre plot in the US

The four men also demanded $37 million and the rights to the man’s business, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Authorities have not released the businessman’s name.

The men were arraigned Monday on charges of conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion, conspiracy against rights and deprivation of rights under the law. All pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors said the group drove to the victim’s home in Irvine on June 17, 2019, and forced him, his wife and their two children for hours, took their phones and threatened to deport him if he didn’t conform to their requirements. Authorities said the man is a legal permanent resident.

The men slammed the businessman against a wall and choked him, prosecutors said. Fearing for his and his family’s safety, he signed documents renouncing his multimillion-dollar interest in Jiangsu Sinorgchem Technology Co. Ltd., a Chinese company that manufactures rubber chemicals.

Federal prosecutors said the man’s business partner, a Chinese woman who has not been charged, financed the fake raid. The two have been embroiled in legal disputes over the company in the United States and China for more than a decade, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said one of the men charged, Steven Arthur Lankford — who retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2020 — looked up information about the victim in a national database using a sheriff’s department terminal. They said Lankford, 68, drove the other three men to the victim’s home in an unmarked sheriff’s department vehicle, displayed his badge and identified himself as a police officer.

It was not immediately clear if Lankford has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. The Associated Press left a message Monday at a phone number listed for Lankford, but he did not return it.

Federal prosecutors also charged Glen Louis Cozart, 63, of Upland, who was also a sheriff’s deputy. The AP left a phone message for Cozart, but he did not immediately return a call.

Lankford was hired by Cozart, who in turn was hired by Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, a 39-year-old British citizen and former member of the British Army who is also facing charges. Prosecutors said Turbett was hired by the Chinese businesswoman who financed the fake raid.

Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, an Australian citizen and former member of the Australian Army, is also charged in this case.

“It is critical that we hold public servants, including law enforcement officers, to the same standards as the rest of us,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “It is unacceptable and a serious violation of civil rights for a sworn police officer to take the law into his own hands and abuse the authority of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.”

If convicted, the four men each face up to 20 years in federal prison.

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