Former Law Enforcement and Military Officers Charged for Allegedly Conducting Sham Raid to Extort Orange County Man
Two of the four men indicted for bullying an Irvine, Calif. man to sign over his company were former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies. Image by Elliott Cowand Jr., Shutterstock.com.
A federal court arraigned four former law enforcement and military members on Aug. 12 over charges alleging that they held a family hostage in their home to force a man to sign over his share of a business he jointly owned, a DOJ press release reports.
The four defendants are:
● Max Samual Bennett Turbett, 39, from Australia, a former British servicemember who owns a private investigation and asset recovery company
● Steven Arthur Lankford, 68, from Santa Clarita, California, who owns a process service company and was a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy
● Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, who runs a risk management company and is a former member of the Australian military
● Glen Louis Cozart, 63, from Upland, California, owns an investigation and security services company and was formerly a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy.
Prosecutors allege these men extorted a man from Irvine, Calif., who was in a dispute with a Chinese national over the ownership of Jiangsi Sinorgchem Technology Company, which is based in China, according to the indictment. This dispute has lasted over a decade and has resulted in three lawsuits in China and one in the U.S.
In 2018, the Chinese national who co-owned the company with the victim allegedly contacted one of the accused, Max Turbett, for help locating the victim’s assets, say prosecutors.
The Chinese national allegedly told Turbett that the lawsuits had not been “the smart way” to deal with the dispute, asking Turbett to find a way to “finish the problem,” according to the press release. The Chinese national also allegedly said, “We can both retire” if Turbett accomplished this. The Chinese national has not been indicted on charges for this case.
Six months later, Turbett and the Chinese national allegedly drafted a settlement requiring the victim to transfer $36,972,386 in cash and Jianqsu Sinorgchem shares, according to the press release. Turbett allegedly hired Cozart, who reportedly hired Lanford, a deputy at the time of the incident, who had access to law enforcement-sensitive information.
On June 17, 2019, the four men allegedly posed as law enforcement officers and detained the victim, his wife, and two children in a room for hours, U.S Attorney Martain Estrada details in a public statement. The four allegedly used physical violence and threats of deportation and separation from their 4-year-old son as a means to force the victim to sign the documents, as detailed in the indictment.
Lankford then allegedly covered up the incident when the victim reported it to Irvine police, according to the U.S. Attorney’s statement. In November 2019, Turbett’s company was allegedly paid $419,813 for the services, and the Chinese national reportedly thanked Turbett, saying, “Very good job.”
All four men were charged with four federal counts: conspiracy to commit extortion, conspiracy against rights, attempted extortion, and deprivation of rights under color of law. If convicted, the defendants could get 10 to 20 years per count, according to the DOJ press release.
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