Four former law enforcement and military officers are accused of conducting a sham raid on a California businessman’s home in 2019 and forcing him to sign away rights to his business worth tens of millions of dollars, federal prosecutors said.

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Steven Arthur Lankford, 68, of Canyon Country, California; Glen Louis Cozart, 63, of Upland, California; Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, 39, of Australia, who is a United Kingdom citizen; and Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, of Australia, are charged in a superseding indictment 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 office said.

Lankford is a retired Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who stopped working for the agency in 2020 and owns a Santa Clarita-based process service company, Cozart is also a former county sheriff’s deputy who owns a private investigation and security services company, Turbett is a former member of the British military who owns a private investigation and asset recovery business, and Hart is a former member of the Australian military who owns a management service business, prosecutors said.

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