California Governor Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Dr Oz Over LA Armenian Community Fraud Claims
California Governor Gavin Newsom has escalated his ongoing feud with the Trump administration by filing a formal civil rights complaint against Dr Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The complaint, submitted to the US Department of Health and Human Services, accuses Oz of discrimination following a controversial video in which he alleged large-scale healthcare fraud within Los Angeles's Armenian community.
Social Media Feud Escalates into Formal Complaint
The public confrontation between Newsom and Oz intensified dramatically on Thursday evening when the governor's office announced the filing of the civil rights complaint. Newsom's administration argues that Oz "spewed baseless and racially charged allegations" during his visit to Los Angeles, specifically targeting the city's Armenian population. The governor's office contends these statements risk chilling participation in vital hospice and home care programmes among the community.
According to the complaint, the allegations have "already caused real-world harm", with Newsom's team pointing to decreased business at an Armenian bakery featured in Oz's video as evidence of immediate negative impact. Neither Oz nor the CMS have responded publicly to requests for comment regarding the complaint or the specific content of the video, nor have they provided detailed evidence to substantiate the fraud allegations.
Controversial Video Sparks Widespread Concern
The video that triggered this political firestorm shows Oz visiting the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles earlier this week. In the footage, the CMS administrator points to a four-block radius that he claims contains 42 hospices, suggesting potential fraudulent activity. He references a business allegedly involved in a $16 million fraud scheme before making more sweeping accusations.
Standing in front of a building housing an Armenian bakery, Oz alleges that approximately $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud has occurred in Los Angeles, claiming "quite a bit of it" was orchestrated by what he describes as "the Russian Armenian mafia". The son of Turkish immigrants himself, Oz specifically draws attention to Armenian script on business signs while the camera pans to the bakery behind him.
"You notice the lettering and language behind me is of that dialect," Oz states in the video, adding that there "has not been a lot of attention on these problems" in California despite his allegations.
Newsom Counters with California's Anti-Fraud Record
Governor Newsom has strongly disputed Oz's claims, taking to social media to highlight California's own substantial efforts to combat healthcare fraud. The governor noted that California authorities have revoked more than 280 hospice licenses and implemented a ban on new licenses beginning in 2022 specifically due to fraud concerns.
This exchange has evolved into a series of sharp social media attacks between the two political figures, representing just the latest confrontation between Newsom - widely viewed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate for 2028 - and the Republican administration of Donald Trump.
Broader Political Context and National Implications
The feud exists within a larger pattern of conflicts between the California governor and the Trump administration, spanning numerous policy areas including:
- The administration's deployment of national guard troops in Los Angeles
- Efforts to block California's pioneering 2035 ban on new gas-powered vehicles
- Numerous other policy disagreements between the progressive state and federal government
Oz's video appears to align with a broader Trump administration initiative to highlight fraud nationwide. This approach follows similar allegations involving daycare centres operated by Somali Americans in Minneapolis, which prompted significant immigration enforcement actions and widespread protests in that midwestern city, where two individuals have been fatally shot by federal agents this month.
The complaint against Oz represents a significant escalation in the ongoing political battles between California's Democratic leadership and the federal administration, with potential implications for healthcare policy, civil rights enforcement, and intergovernmental relations across the United States.
