State drops Medi-Cal fraud case against Rizza Islam as trial was about to begin

[Rizza Islam and Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan]

“The People announced they are unable to proceed so the case is dismissed.”

That’s the word we just got from the Los Angeles Superior Court where this morning the trial of Rizza Islam on charges of defrauding Medi-Cal was supposed to begin.

After years of delays and other defendants pleading guilty, the government will not go through with prosecuting Rizza.

Part of what makes this surprising is that at the last court hearing, when the trial was delayed yet again, the government claimed that it had “terabytes” of new evidence in the case, and Rizza’s attorney complained that he didn’t have time to go through it all.

We’re hoping to get a statement from his attorney, Jeremy McLymont, or from Rizza himself, who are both at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center today.

We’ll add more to this breaking story when we can.

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