The Civil Rights Division led a long and difficult investigation resulting in a 22-count indictment against five defendants charged with subjecting workers to involuntary servitude in a garment factory in American Samoa. Specifically, the indictment charged that the defendants brought 250 Vietnamese, and Chinese nationals, mostly young women, to work as sewing machine operators in a Daewoosa garment factory. The victims, some of whom were held for up to two years, were forced to work through extreme food deprivation, beatings, and physical restraint. The victims were held in barracks on a guarded company compound, and were threatened with confiscation of their passports, deportation, economic bankruptcy, severe economic hardship to family members, false arrest, and a host of other consequences. One victim had an eye gouged out by a defendant who struck her with a jagged pipe in order to punish her for refusing to comply with the defendants’ orders.
On March 23, 2001, the defendant was arrested on a federal warrant issued by the US District Court for the District of Hawaii. The Complaint and Affidavit in support of the warrant alleged that the defendant violated 18 U.S.C. 1584 (involuntary servitude), and 18 U.S.C.1589 (forced labor). On August 30, 2001, a federal grant jury returned a 22 count indictment.
The defendant was charged with 1 count of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of workers (18 U.S.C. 241), 17 counts of involuntary servitude (18 U.S.C.1584), 1 count of extortion (18 U.S.C. 1951), 1 count of money laundering (18 U.S.C. 1956), 1 count of making a false statement to a financial institution (18 U.S.C. 1014), and 1 count of bribery (18 U.S.C. 215).
During the trial, 36 witnesses testified for the government, including 21 abused workers. The government dismissed 2 of the involuntary servitude charges, and the false statement to a bank official charge.
HOLDING:
Two Samoan defendants who conspired with [Lee] pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy. On February 21, 2002, the lead defendant [Kil Soo Lee] was convicted of one count of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of the worker victims, eleven counts of involuntary servitude, one count of extortion, and one count of money laundering. On June 22, 2005, [Lee] was sentenced to 40 years of incarceration.
United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
U.S. Department of Justice: “Report on Activities to Combat Human Trafficking” Fiscal Years 2001-2005, Appendix Human Trafficking cases p.75:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/trafficking_report_2006.pdf
United States v. Kil Soo Lee is the largest trafficking prosecution ever brought by the Department of Justice.