On January 27, 2026, Dr. Oz publicly accused Armenian owned businesses of fraud. Mehmet Oz, most known as Dr. Oz, is an Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and has severely affected the Armenian American community with his actions. He and his team were filming businesses, which included a collection of grocery stores, pharmacies, medical clinics, and bakeries. Dr. Oz showed these businesses which has now affected their profits, including a drop in one bakery’s profit by 30%. 
Oz is accusing the “Russian Armenian mafia” for committing fraud through hospices and clinics. He claims that these businesses have paid off doctors and clients to sign papers and give their beneficiary information, and receive money for it. Dr. Oz is making these claims without any proof, which leads to obvious racism. Oz is a Turkish American, who has also served in the Turkish army and has openly denied the Armenian Genocide, even while knowing the deep history of Armenians and Turks. After making these claims in his Instagram post, and accusing the “Russian Armenian mafia” being the cause of the hospice fraud issues in California, Governor Gavin Newsom, has made a Civil Rights Claim against Dr. Oz and has spoken up for the Armenian American community. As Gov. Newsom said Mehmet’s claims are “baseless” and blatant racism. In Oz’s video, he goes in front of Tigranakert, which is a bakery and grocery store, and he states, “You notice the lettering and language behind me is of that dialect, and it also highlights the fact that this is an organized crime, mafia deal.” The sign that he points to and talks about is only in Armenian and doesn’t include any Russian which he claims is also included. He continues to talk about how the “Russian Armenian mafia” is the cause of medical frauds. The open racism from Turks towards Armenians has always been seen, but to go to businesses and bash their names is unacceptable and racist and will in no way be tolerated by the Armenian community or our governor.
Something that often is forgotten is how Oz himself is a fraudster. Beginning in 2016 and ending in early 2023, Oz was in a major lawsuit over false advertisement for weight loss supplements. Keep in mind, Oz has a long history with medical work, even being a professor at a prestigious university. However, the brand he was endorsing was a fraud and a scam, and this led to a lawsuit for misleading people. In Oz’s tv show “The Dr. Oz Show”, Oz had made several comments misleading viewers that the supplements worked “miracles” and were “fat bursting”. Oz and his business partners tried to come to a conclusion with $5.25 million dollars, to essentially buy their silence and to end the lawsuit, without any denial of their actions. In early 2023, the lawsuit came to an end with a $625,000 settlement. Many professors, doctors, and scientists have spoken against the wrongful things Oz endorsed and him as a doctor in general, with Senator McCaskill even saying that “the scientific community is almost monolithic against you”.
As an Armenian young woman myself, not only does this enrage me, but it also worries me. Racist people like Dr. Oz feed the stereotypes, the accusations that surround my people, perpetuating racial stereotypes. As a result of this video, Tigranakert has lost so many sales, that’s food off of someone’s table, yet racist people like Oz who don’t care, publicly bash my people without consequences. Alongside ethnic cleansing, the Turkish people have a history of silencing Armenians for over 100 years, and even now continue to try to take away everything they can from us, and this is direct proof.
Sources
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/30/mehmet-oz-fraud-claims-gavin-newsom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Oz
