Four men, including two former deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, have been indicted for a fake raid that extorted $37 million from a man after being hired by his ex-business partner in China. Federal prosecutors revealed on Monday that these mercenaries, who were all ex-law enforcement or military personnel, allegedly threatened a man and his family in their home to force him to sign over millions of dollars. They even threatened to separate the parents from their two young children.
According to Akil Davis, head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, these defendants believed they could use their past police authority to enforce their own form of vigilante justice by entering the homes of vulnerable victims and coercing them out of millions of dollars.
The four indicted men are 68-year-old Steven Arthur Lankford, a former LASD deputy, 63-year-old Glen Louis Cozart, another former LASD deputy, 39-year-old Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, a former British military member from Australia, and 41-year-old Matthew Phillip Hart, also a former member of the Australian military. They are facing charges of conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion, conspiracy against rights, and deprivation of rights.
The Chinese woman who allegedly hired the team is not named in the indictment but is described as a Chinese national with homes in China and France. Her ex-business partner, the victim, resides in Irvine, California, with his wife and two sons.
The former business partners were shareholders in two Chinese chemical companies. In 2008, Jiangsu Sinorgchem Technology Co. Ltd., a rubber chemical manufacturer, purchased the assets of these companies. However, a dispute arose between the two over the ownership of shares, which had been the subject of three lawsuits in China and one in Atlanta by 2019.
One of the documents the man was forced to sign was a settlement agreement to resolve the dispute over the ownership of Jiangsu Sinorgchem shares. This document transferred his shares to the woman and nearly $37 million in cash, along with an agreement to withdraw the pending lawsuits.
The woman reached out to Turbett via email in December 2018, expressing her frustration with the lengthy legal battles and attorney fees. She described the case as significant and hinted that resolving it could allow both of them to retire.
According to prosecutors, each man had a specific role in the scheme. Turbett’s private investigation business, based in Australia, accepted the job with the promise of a share of the recovered assets. He contracted Cozart to handle the local investigation work and assemble a team. Cozart then hired Lankford to use his LASD badge and law enforcement status to intimidate and coerce the victim into compliance, while Hart was brought on as extra security.
Lankford’s role was crucial due to his access and authority. He had left the LASD in 2017 after serving as a homicide detective for about 33 years but returned on a contract basis until 2020.
On June 17, 2019, Lankford and Cozart approached their target as he was leaving his home. Cozart posed as an immigration official while Lankford displayed his LASD badge, identifying himself as a detective. The victim invited the men into his home, where his wife and two sons were also present.
Once inside, Lankford confiscated the victim’s phone without permission. He and Hart then searched the house and found the wife, still in her pajamas, in the third-floor bedroom with their 4-year-old son. They took her phone as well.
As the man sat at his kitchen table, he requested an attorney, but Lankford dismissed the request, saying, “not right now.” Cozart threatened that the man and his wife would be deported and separated from their children unless he signed the documents they presented.
At one point, the father attempted to flee but was grabbed by Hart, who slammed him against the wall, choking him while saying, “Don’t [mess] with me. I’m not the police.” The father then grabbed a knife and shouted, “If you aren’t police, why are you in my house?”
Turbett called Lankford for help, and Lankford threatened to arrest the man for pulling the knife, even pulling out handcuffs. After more than two hours of threats and violence, the man finally signed the documents. After the men left, the victim called law enforcement.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada condemned the actions, stating that it is a severe civil rights violation for a sworn police officer to take the law into his own hands and misuse the authority of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has faced scrutiny in the past for ethical issues among its deputies. A 2021 investigation by Knock LA highlighted allegations of deputy gangs within the agency, which were corroborated by mainstream news outlets.
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If convicted, the four men could face up to 20 years in federal prison for each extortion count and up to 10 years for the other charges.
