LOS ANGELES — Four influential California lawmakers called this week for an investigation into a $17.5 million class-action settlement on behalf of Armenian genocide victims that a Los Angeles Times investigation found had been marred by fraud, diverted funds and a rejection rate of 92%.
U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., the only Armenian Americans in Congress, along with Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said they were disgusted by misconduct The Times detailed in a report last week.
“I am deeply concerned and outraged by the issues raised,” Portantino said in a statement. “The Armenian Genocide was a horrendous historical atrocity and descendants of those murdered should not be victimized or be denied their rightful settlements.”
