4 ex-law enforcement officers charged in $37 million extortion scheme

Prosecutors are accusing four ex-law enforcement and military officers of conducting an elaborate, fake raid on a California man's home in 2019 in order to trick him into signing away his rights in a business worth tens of millions of dollars.

The victim, who was not named in the indictment, shared the business, a China-based rubber chemical manufacturer called Jiangsu Sinorgchem Technology Co. Ltd., with a “wealthy Chinese national," prosecutors said. The two had been in a costly legal dispute over the company for years. That same unnamed Chinese national that backed the sham raid and contacted one of the defendants, Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, with a plan to end the fight over the business, prosecutors alleged.

Turbett, 39, a U.K. citizen and former member of the British military along with three other men are now facing charges 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 others charged include:

• Steven Arthur Lankford, 68, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy who stopped working for the department in 2020. Federal prosecutors said he now owns a Santa Clarita, California-based process service company.
• Glen Louis Cozart, 63, a former LASD deputy. He owns and runs a private investigation and security services company.
• Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, an Australian citizen and former member of the Australian military. He owns a risk management services business in Australia.

An attorney for Lankford declined to comment on the case. Efforts to reach attorneys for the other three men named in the indictment were not immediately successful.

The scheme stretches from Australia to L.A.

Prosecutors say that in 2018, Turbett, who also owned an Australia-based private investigation and asset recovery business, was contacted by the "wealthy Chinese national" (also referred to by prosecutors as "the unindicted co-conspirator") to help find and recover assets from "Victim 1." The years-long legal dispute, which involved lawsuits filed in China and in Atlanta, had not been "the smart way" to handle the fight, she told him. She asked Turbett to find a new "solution to finish the problem," prosecutors alleged. If Turbett helped her, she said, "we can both retire," according to the indictment.

Turbett and this unindicted co-conspirator had fake settlement agreements drawn up that called on the victim to transfer nearly $37 million in cash and company shares to the woman, prosecutors allege.

Following this, Turbett hired Cozart, one of the former LASD deputies, to help find the victim and get a team together to get him to sign the paperwork. Cozart brought Lankford onto the scheme as he was still employed as a deputy with the LASD. Against agency policy, Lankford searched the victim's name and date of birth into the National Crime Information Center database — a system to be used explicitly for law enforcement matters and not for personal reasons, prosecutors said.

Turbett and Hart flew from Australia to Los Angeles, to meet with Cozart and Lankford to discuss plans for the bogus raid, according to prosecutors.

On June 17, 2019, they allegedly put the plan in action. Lankford — again in violation of LASD rules — droved an unmarked department car to the victim's home with Cozart, Hart and Turbett in tow, according to the indictment. Lankford and Cozart allegedly approached the victim outside his home, both identifying themselves as a police officer and an immigration officer. Lankford showed his LASD badge to further sell the act, prosecutors said.

The victim's family was home at the time. The defendants allegedly forced the victim, his wife and their two children into one room, taking their phones and blocking them from leaving for hours. The victim was allegedly slammed against a wall, choked and threatened with deportation and separation from his 4-year-old son — unless he signed the settlement papers, prosecutors allege.

Fearing for his family, the man signed the paperwork. Before leaving, Lankford said the man would be arrested and deported if he reported this incident to police, investigators allege. Ignoring this threat, the man called the Irvine Police Department as soon as the four men left the house.

Lankford allegedly lied to investigators with the Irvine Police Department and said he was at the victim's home for legitimate law enforcement purposes, that the man consented to everyone being at his home and no force was used.

Prosecutors said that by November 2019, all men were paid for the scheme. Turbett's company was paid close to $420,000 by the "wealthy Chinese national" and was thanked for a "very good job," according to prosecutors.