FBI: 6 accused in forced labor of 400 Thai workers

[mike r]

Source: Associated Press

Federal authorities are accusing six people of luring 400 laborers from Thailand to the United States and forcing them to work in what the FBI calls the largest human-trafficking case ever charged in U.S. history.

The indictment unsealed Thursday charges six people in a scheme involving Los Angeles-based recruiting company Global Horizons Manpower Inc. They each face maximum sentences ranging from 10 years to 70 years in prison.

The indictment alleges four Global Horizons executives and two Thailand-based recruiters lured the workers with false promises of lucrative jobs and kept them working with threats of economic harm.

The FBI says many worked on Hawaii farms. A lawyer for some laborers say many have been sent to sites in California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090204657.html

[WhiteTara]

1. it's amazing how a very small few can

control such large number of others!

[Cal Carpenter]

4. Sort of a microcosm of our economic system as a whole, isn't it?

[elleng]

6. I'm afraid it might be, Cal.

Could use some REAL regulation and enforcement, which should be do-able.

[fascisthunter]

2. 6 sociopaths

defects like these belong in prison. They actually enjoy what they do too.

[Citizen Worker]

3. Sociopaths driven by greed, yes. Punishment, no.

If we ever hear about this case again it will be a small article buried deep inside the newspaper and it will simply say that the defendants agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and pay a substantial monetary fine. No prison time. The four will then go out set up the same business model under a different name and carry on. There is no "rule of law" in the US for the wealthy and powerful but there is swift and certain "justice" for dark skinned people.

[elleng]

5. Such a 'good' story, mike, I just posted same, from NYT.