A shocking case of extortion and intimidation has come to light, involving two former Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies and two soldiers from Australia and Great Britain. According to a recent indictment, the four individuals were hired by a Chinese businesswoman to stage a fake immigration raid on a Chinese man, with the goal of coercing him into signing away his business interests.
The orchestrator of the scheme, who remains in China, allegedly paid $400,000 to the four mercenaries to carry out the operation in 2019. The target of the raid was a Chinese immigrant and legal U.S. resident, who was forced to sign away $37 million in business interests.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada described the plot as a brazen attempt to use force and intimidation to extort the victim. “The goal was to get this person to sign a contract to give away his business rights,” Estrada said. “That’s what he ended up doing, but he did it by force, intimidation, and extortion.”
One of the co-conspirators named in the indictment is former deputy Steven A. Lankford, who was still employed as a law enforcement officer at the time of the incident. According to prosecutors, Lankford used his badge and authority to gain entry into the victim’s home and intimidate his family. He also allegedly tried to shut down an investigation into the raid after the victim reported it to the Irvine Police Department.
The indictment accuses the four individuals of conspiracy to commit extortion and deprivation of rights under the color of law. Lankford, who had retired from the Sheriff’s Department in 2017 but returned to work part-time, was working in that capacity at the time of the 2019 incident.
