VAN NUYS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Governor Newsom’s office is filing a civil rights complaint after Dr. Mehmet Oz targeted the local Armenian-American community in a series of videos about health care fraud.
The complaint calls for an investigation, accusing Dr. Oz of spewing “baseless and racially charged allegations.”
Dr. Oz, who is the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, posted the video on the federal agency’s official social media account. In it, he’s seen standing in front of a family-run bakery and grocery store in Van Nuys, claiming its sign indicates ties to the mafia.
But the owner, Movses Bislamyan, calls the claims a lie and says his business has already suffered from the false portrayal.
“I am really disappointed,” Bislamyan said. “Recording my signs, my location, and talking about some kind of fraud going on here. We have nothing to do with it. It has nothing to do whatsoever with the grocery store.”
Much of the two-minute video shows Oz positioned directly beneath the bakery’s sign, including a zoomed-in shot as he states, “It also highlights the fact that this is an organized crime mafia deal.”
Bislamyan rejected that characterization.
“There is no Armenian mafia going on here. We’re just hard-working businessmen,” he said. “I don’t understand why he’s mentioning just Armenians… especially Russian Armenians.”
Bislamyan said customer traffic fell 30% in a single day after the video circulated. He called the claims a lie.
On Friday, Dr. Oz fired back at Gov. Gavin Newsom in a tweet, saying in part “Gavin Newsom will do literally anything to avoid talking about the rampant Medicare fraud in his state.”
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