Two former soldiers based in Australia allegedly pretended to be law enforcement officials and threatened a Los Angeles businessman with violence and deportation unless he handed over almost US$37m, according to US court documents.
Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, a former member of the Australian military, and Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, 39, a former member of the British military and UK citizen who lives in Australia, were charged along with two other men on 1 August, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.
The four men were allegedly acting on behalf of a wealthy Chinese national who financed the bogus raid in order to settle a dispute with her former business partner, the office said.
They have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, one count of attempted extortion, one count of conspiracy against rights, and one count of deprivation of rights “under color of law”. The quartet were expected to face court in Los Angeles on Monday (local time).
If convicted, the defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each extortion-related count and up to 10 years in federal prison for each deprivation of rights-related count.
The indictment – obtained from the court – alleges the former business partner emailed Turbett, who operates an Australia-based private investigation and asset recovery business, on 16 December 2018. In the email, she claimed the alleged victim was wanted by the Chinese government and had stolen from her.
The businesswoman, who is not named and is described as “Coconspirator A” in the indictment, told Turbett that if he helped “solve this” then “we can both retire”. She has not been indicted.
The dispute related to the alleged victim and alleged co-conspirator’s respective ownership interests in Jiangsu Sinorgchem Technology Co Ltd, a China-based rubber chemical manufacturer. There had been four lawsuits in China and Atlanta relating to the dispute, the US attorney said.
“I pay so much for the lawyers. But now I think used [sic] lawyers is not the smart way to do it,” Coconspirator A allegedly said in an email to Turbett.
“So I want you to find a solution going to finish this problem.”
About June 2019, Turbett hired Glen Louis Cozart, a former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputy who owned a private investigation and security services company, to find the former business partner, according to the indictment.
Cozart hired Steven Arthur Lankford, another former LASD deputy, to assist, the indictment says. The pair are the other two men charged in the case.
While Lankford was a former deputy, he continued to work on a contract basis for the department, meaning he had access to law enforcement databases, according to the indictment. He allegedly used these databases to locate the business person, and recruited another law enforcement officer who spoke Chinese to assist in the case.
Turbett arrived in Los Angeles on a flight from Sydney on 10 June 2019, with Hart arriving two days later after travelling the same route.
They met later that day with Cozart and Lankford to discuss the plan to obtain the businessman’s signature on a document which would entitle Coconspirator A to almost US $37m, the indictment alleges. She would also be entitled to his company, worth many millions more.
On 17 June 2019, the four men and several others who were not charged arrived at the businessman’s home, according to the indictment.
Lankford allegedly knocked on the door and showed his LASD deputy identification card. He and Cozart asked to speak to the man inside.
Turbett and Hart then also allegedly entered the home.
The group allegedly swept the home, ordering the man, his wife and two sons to sit in the same room, and seized their phones.
Lankford allegedly told the man and his wife they risked deportation if they did not sign the documents, and that if they were deported their four-year-old son would be placed into foster care and they would never see him again.
When the man tried to escape, Hart allegedly grabbed him by the neck and shirt, yanked him backwards up a set of stairs, slammed him against the wall, and choked him, according to the indictment.
“Don’t fuck with me. I’m not the police,” Hart allegedly said.
The man’s adult son tried to pull Hart off his father, but was allegedly shoved by Hart into a wall.
The man eventually agreed to sign the documents, after speaking with his former business partner on the phone. She allegedly told him an Interpol red notice would be withdrawn if he signed the documents. The notice, that facilitates an international arrest and extradition, had been taken out against him by Chinese authorities on her behalf, but was unlikely to be acted on by US authorities.
The group left the man’s house after about three hours and some of them went to celebrate the successful mission at lunch, according to the indictment.
The man then called the police. The FBI later made contact with some of the men, the indictment shows.
Coconspirator A paid Turbett’s company Oracle Investigations about US$420,000 on 31 July 2019, the indictment alleges. Other information regarding smaller payments between various individuals and companies allegedly involved are also in the indictment.
“It is critical that we hold public officials, including law enforcement officers, to the same standards as the rest of us,” the United States attorney, Martin Estrada, said.
“It is unacceptable and a serious civil rights violation for a sworn police officer to take the law into his own hands and abuse the authority of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”
Public records show Hart was previously the owner of a company whose website claims to have offered tactical working dog training courses to Australian law enforcement officers.
An endorsement reportedly from the Queensland police said the company provided the service’s firearms and explosive detection dog teams with a handler’s development course in 2019 – the same year as the alleged US mission.
“The modern training methodologies” provided by the company “was a great assistance in the enhancement of our dog teams,” the endorsement said.
“The quality and professionalism of the staff who all displayed worldly hands and knowledge were very approachable and of very high quality.”
Hart no longer appears to be involved in the business, which has been taken over by a similar company.
According to the website of Oracle, the company linked to Turbett, it was headquartered in Melbourne’s outer east. But an Asic notice shows that the company was wound up and placed into liquidation in January this year.
