California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) filed a civil rights complaint Thursday against Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Muhammad Oz, claiming he discriminated against Armenians in Los Angeles County, accusing them of hospice fraud.
The complaint alleges that Oz “spread baseless and racially discriminatory accusations” that put the hospice at risk of not admitting patients. Newsom’s office said Oz’s claims have “caused real-world harm” to Armenian businesses.
“Our office is reviewing recent reports that Dr. Muhammad Oz targeted the Armenian-American community in Southern California with allegations of racial discrimination outside of Armenian-owned businesses, including a popular bakery,” Newsom’s press office wrote on social platform X on Wednesday before filing the complaint.
“Given the historical sensitivities involved, we are taking these allegations seriously,” the press office added. “Hateful acts of any kind have no place in California.”
Newsom’s press office mocked Oz on X, calling him a “liar” twice. One post shared a montage of videos of Oz making various health-related claims, including congressional testimony and claims he made while serving as a television host.
A second post shared an AI-generated image of Oz that resembled fictional agent Austin Powers, with the caption: “Selling fake ‘miracle pills’ to dying grandma.” An image of Newsom appeared next to Oz, with the caption: “prohibit A new hospice will be built in 2021 to stop fraud. “
Newsom’s press office also shared an ABC 7 Los Angeles report about an Armenian bakery in Van Nuys, California, where the owner told the outlet that Oz’s video posted on Tuesday led to a 30% drop in business. Newsom called it “disgusting,” adding, “When powerful people spread trash, real people get hurt!”
Oz claimed in the video that “there’s approximately $3.5 billion in fraud going on in hospice and home care in Los Angeles.” Pointing to the letters outside the bakery, he said: “This store is mostly run by the Russian Armenian mafia. You notice the letters behind me and the language are in that dialect.”
“I’m really disappointed,” Movses Bislamyan, who runs the Sherman Road market, told local media. “Document my sign, my location, and talk about some kind of fraud going on here. We have nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with the grocery store.”
Bislamyan defended his bakery, telling ABC 7, “There is no Armenian mafia here. We are just hardworking businessmen.”
“I don’t understand why he only mentioned Armenians…especially Russian Armenians,” he added.
The Trump administration has frozen more than $10 billion in child care funding in blue states such as California and Minnesota. The president claimed earlier this month that the fraud in California was “worse” than the widespread welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota and that an investigation into alleged fraud in the Golden State is ongoing.
White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt previously told reporters: “The president has directed all agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of federal spending programs in Minnesota and California to identify fraud and prosecute all those who commit fraud to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Associated Press contributed.
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