Federal prosecutors charge ex-Los Angeles County deputies in sham raid and $37M extortion

abcnews.go.com:

Federal prosecutors have charged two former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and two former foreign military officials with threatening a Chinese national and his family with violence and deportation during a sham raid at his Orange County home

LOS ANGELES — Two former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and two former foreign military officials have been charged with threatening a Chinese national and his family with violence and deportation during a sham raid at his Orange County home five years ago, federal prosecutors said Monday.

The four men also demanded $37 million and the rights to the man's business, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Authorities have not released the businessman’s name.

The men were arraigned Monday on charges of conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion, conspiracy against rights, and deprivation of rights under color of law. All pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors said the group drove to the victim's house in Irvine on June 17, 2019, and forced him, his wife and their two children into a room for hours, took their phones, and threatened to deport him unless he complied with their demands. Authorities said the man is a legal permanent resident.

The men slammed the businessman against a wall and choked him, prosecutors said. Fearing for his and his family's safety, he signed documents relinquishing his multimillion-dollar interest in Jiangsu Sinorgchem Technology Co. Ltd., a China-based company that makes rubber chemicals.

Federal prosecutors said the man's business partner, a Chinese woman who was not indicted, financed the bogus raid. The two had been embroiled in legal disputes over the company in the United States and China for more than a decade,