An indictment unsealed Monday accused four men, including two retired LA County Sheriff’s deputies and two former soldiers from Australia and Great Britain, of staging a fake law enforcement raid on a home in Irvine, where the resident was allegedly held against his will and coerced into signing over business interests worth more than $37 million.
The unnamed victim, an Irvine resident who is an immigrant from China and a legal U.S. resident, had been embroiled in a dispute with a former business associate still in China, who allegedly paid more than $400,000 to orchestrate the raid in 2019, according to officials.
“At some point, this wealthy Chinese national decided to hire these mercenaries to go carry out what they did,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada told reporters in downtown LA.
“The goal was to get this person to sign a contract to give away his business rights. That’s what he …