In what authorities call the largest human-trafficking case in U.S. history, a federal grand jury in Honolulu this week indicted the owner and four employees of Global Horizons Manpower Inc., along with two Thai labor recruiters, on charges of engaging in a conspiracy to coerce the labor of those workers and about 400 other Thai nationals.
"The case is mind-boggling," said Chanchanit Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center, which has worked on the case for seven years and played a pivotal role in half a dozen other human-trafficking cases involving Thai workers. "It is by far the largest and most protracted case we've ever worked on."
Global Horizons President Mordechai Orian, an Israeli national, turned himself in to the FBI on Friday in Honolulu and was to appear in court that afternoon. All other defendants have been arrested or accounted for, according to FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu.
A receptionist answering the phone at Global Horizons said no one was available for comment. The company's website said its labor contracting network spanned 15 countries and recruited workers on four continents from such countries as Thailand, India, Nepal and Israel, as well as from Eastern and Western Europe.
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