Newsom Files Civil Rights Complaint Accusing Dr. Oz Of Targeting Armenian Americans

CBS LA

January 30, 2026

California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a civil rights complaint against Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Trump's head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, accusing him of discriminating against Armenian Americans.

The filing comes after Dr. Oz, in a video posted to social media, accused the "Russian Armenian Mafia" of running a $3.5 billion hospice care fraud scheme in Los Angeles. After driving around the Van Nuys neighborhood of LA, he stops in a pocket of businesses, claiming one of them was part of a $16 million scheme.

While making the claims, Dr. Oz focuses on a nearby bakery's sign, saying that it is written in the same dialect used by the Russian Armenian Mafia.

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