Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
california governor Gavin NewsomThe office has required one civil right investigation Enter Ph.D. Muhammad Ozclaims he discriminated against Armenians in a video alleging widespread hospice fraud in the country Los Angeles.
The Democratic governor filed the complaint on Thursday after Dr. Oz posted a video on social media taken outside an Armenian bakery in Los Angeles. In the video, Dr. Oz, who serves as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, claims that approximately $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud occurred in the city, with a “significant portion” allegedly run by the “Russian Armenian Mafia.”
Newsom’s office argued in the complaint that Dr. Oz “spread baseless and racially discriminatory accusations” that could prevent targeted communities from participating in important hospice and home care programs. They added that the claims had “already caused real-world harm” by suppressing business at the Armenian bakery featured in the video.
Movses Bislamyan, who owns the bakery, told KABC-TV: “Mafia? There is no Armenian mafia here. We are just hardworking business owners. I don’t understand why he only mentioned Armenians.”
The request for an investigation is the latest point of contention between California and federal officials.
Oz and CMS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint or the content of the video, and have not publicly shared details about the alleged fraud.
Oz’s video also points to a larger trump card The government is working hard to bring attention to fraud across the country. The move comes after accusations of fraud at a day care center run by Somali residents in Minneapolis triggered a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city that sparked widespread protests.
Earlier this week, Newsom acknowledged the existence of fraud in California hospice but said the state has been trying to crack down on it for years. He noted that he signed a law in 2021 to stop new hospice licenses due to concerns about fraud, and said the state has revoked more than 280 hospice licenses in recent years. Newsom’s office said another 300 hospices are being inspected for fraud. The state did not immediately provide a list of all businesses whose licenses have been revoked.
“For years, we have been identifying and combating hospice fraud and taking practical action to protect patients and taxpayers,” Newsom said in a statement.
Oz’s video shows him visiting the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles and pointing to a four-block radius where he said there are 42 hospices, suggesting potential fraud. He mentioned a company he said was part of a $16 million fraud scheme. As the camera pans to the bakery, Oz describes the Armenian writing on the business’s sign.
“You notice the letters and the language behind me are all in that dialect,” said Oz, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Türkiye. He also claimed that California “isn’t paying much attention to these issues.”
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said Oz’s comments fueled “simplistic stereotypes” about the Armenian community, which has deep roots in California.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles County, which recognizes April as Armenian History Month. A small area of Los Angeles is known as “Little Armenia,” and the suburban city of Glendale, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from where Oz recorded the video, is the center of the community.
Hamparian said Oz’s relationship with Türkiye is concerning. The country’s government does not recognize the killing and deportation of Armenians by Ottoman troops in the early 1900s, the so-called Armenian Genocide.
“The matter has been handled at the state level and lawsuits have been filed,” Hamparian said. “But Dr. Oz has taken this in a completely destructive direction by scapegoating, fear-mongering, and a dramatic class-action prosecution of all Armenians.”
Türkiye and Armenia have long had tense relations over historical grievances and Türkiye’s alliance with Azerbaijan. The two neighbors have no formal diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s, but late last year they agreed to streamline visa procedures in a bid to normalize relations.
The feud is one of many that have emerged between Newsom, who is seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, and President Donald Trump’s Republican administration. Newsom and Trump have clashed over a range of issues, from the federal government’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles to the president’s blocking of California’s 2035 ban on new gas-powered vehicles, the first of its kind nationwide.