Two former LA sheriff’s deputies charged in alleged ‘sham raid’: Prosecutors WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio [Video]

LOS ANGELES — Two former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies and two former foreign military members – one from the U.K. and one from Australia – have been accused of staging a “sham raid” on a man’s home as part of a business dispute, federal prosecutors said.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the four men were hired by a “wealthy Chinese national” — who is being identified as an unindicted co-conspirator — to pressure the victim into handing over his shares of a Chinese rubber chemical manufacturer and nearly $37 million.

The alleged co-conspirator and victim, neither of whom are identified, had been in a yearslong feud over ownership interests in the company, prosecutors said.

The four men charged were identified as Steven Arthur Lankford, 68, a since-retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy; Glen Louis Cozart, 63, a former …