NEW YORK — A six-count indictment was unsealed within the Japanese District of New York (EDNY) Thursday charging Dat Tat Ho and Manh Ngoc Nguyen with conspiring to defraud U.S. authorities businesses and alien smuggling for monetary achieve, and associated crimes. The defendants allegedly smuggled Vietnamese aliens into the US to work for illegally low wages at hair and nail salons in New York Metropolis and on Lengthy Island. This investigation was carried out by ICE’s Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) with Inner Income Service-Felony Investigation, New York (IRS-CI) and U.S. Division of Labor, Workplace of Inspector Normal, New York Area (DOL-OIG). Each defendants had been ordered detained pending trial.
Seth D. DuCharme, Appearing United States Lawyer for the Japanese District of New York; Peter C. Fitzhugh, Particular Agent-in-Cost, Homeland Safety Investigations, New York (HSI); Jonathan D. Larsen, Particular Agent-in-Cost; and Michael C. Mikulka, Particular Agent-in-Cost, U.S. Division of Labor, Workplace of Inspector Normal, New York Area (DOL-OIG), introduced the indictment and arrests.
“This case is an instance of callous labor trafficking hiding in plain sight. In what gave the impression to be an limitless scheme, this transnational prison group allegedly manipulated the asylum course of and profited off the plight of their nail salon workers whom they victimized,” said HSI Particular Agent-in-Cost Fitzhugh. “HSI, by way of collaboration with its federal, state and native companions, methodically unraveled the huge attain of this enterprise which led to the indictment of those criminals. It is necessary for anybody who’s a sufferer of human smuggling to know that these investigations prioritize making certain the protection of the victims whereas bringing these accountable to justice.”
“It’s reprehensible when others allegedly search private monetary achieve by smuggling individuals into the US and paying them illegally low wages,” said IRS-CI Particular Agent-in-Cost Jonathan D. Larsen. “We’ll proceed to work with our regulation enforcement companions to forestall this abuse and defend the monetary integrity of our tax system.”
“Combatting labor trafficking is a crucial a part of the mission of the Division of Labor’s Workplace of Inspector Normal. We’ll proceed to work with our regulation enforcement companions to analyze all types of labor trafficking,” said DOL-OIG Particular Agent-in-Cost Michael C. Mikulka.
“As alleged, Ho and Nguyen conspired to smuggle aliens into the US, preserve them underneath the defendants’ management and pay them illegally low wages to work in nail and hair salons,” said Appearing United States Lawyer Seth D. DuCharme. “As this case demonstrates, we take critically our duty to take care of safety at our borders and prosecute those that search illegal industrial benefit and monetary revenue by way of the exploitation of different human beings.”
In keeping with court docket filings, the defendants owned or managed quite a few nail and hair salons in Queens, the Bronx and on Lengthy Island. Between January 2017 and September 2020, the defendants and others organized for Vietnamese international nationals to enter the US through unlawful border crossings on the U.S. border with Mexico, in addition to at different ports of entry. After the international nationals crossed the border, the defendants facilitated their journey to New York to work of their salons at illegally low wages and overstay their transit visas. The defendants additionally prompted international nationals to make false statements to USCIS and submit fraudulent asylum functions to USCIS. The international nationals had been housed in residences that the defendants owned or managed.
Particular because of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS), U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Customs and Border Safety, U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York, the New York Metropolis Police Division, Nassau County Police Division and Suffolk County Police Division for his or her invaluable help in the course of the investigation.
The fees within the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed harmless except and till confirmed responsible. If convicted, Nguyen and Ho face a minimal of 5 years’ imprisonment and as much as 15 years’ imprisonment.
