Posted on 05/23/2007 7:55:10 PM PDT by Phlap
A millionaire couple accused of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves in their luxurious Long Island home and abusing them for years have been indicted on federal slavery charges.
The women, prosecutors said, were subjected to beatings, had scalding water thrown on them and were forced to repeatedly climb stairs as punishment for perceived misdeeds. In one case, prosecutors said, one of the women was forced to eat 25 hot chili peppers at one time.
One of the women also told authorities they were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen and were fed so little, they had to steal food.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
The Horror The Horror. LOL
let me guess...the wealthy NY ‘couple’ are Saudi’s ?
Since I see no party affiliation, I assume they’re Democrats.
“Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani”
Are these Muslim Pakistanis or East Indians? I thought there was going to be a Religion of Peace connection here.
How do you get wealthy unless you force someone else to work for free? /sarc
Wow, when a sentence like that appears in the first three paragraphs - you know you have a winner.
Have to be democrats.
The Democrat Party: Protecting Slavery since 1820 (TM)
Now why did I know, before even clicking on the link, that the offenders were proud members of the Religion of Peace? Who’d have thought that? I thought they were WASP socialites.
I think the relevant classification is evil Long Island Nouveau Riche. Vile species, and they come in a wide variety of ethnicities and nominal religions. These two are for all practical purposes very close cousins to Lizzie Grubman (Google if you missed that one).
"Cruella" as she has been dubbed by the NY Post is from Indonesia (where Obama went to school).
Nope, Indonesian(wife) and Indian(husband).
she’s only 35? she looks over 55...
nice Izod...
I hear ‘ya!
Michael Jackson owns slaves?!
Samirah was dressed in pants and a towel, weeping and carrying two plastic bags, when Dunkin' Donuts manager Adrian Mohammed, 26, spotted her early Sunday. He said he thought she was homeless, so he gave her coffee, bagels and a jacket.
LOL
First thing I did when I saw this artice was to check Open Secrets to see if they donated $$ to anyone. They haven’t under Sabhnani or their main company name. I did a quick Google search and about the only thing that came up was the slavery incident and a prior law suit. I haven’t found anything else about this “wonderful couple”
Guilty!
I think they’re from India and they’re definitely not Muslims. “[federal prosecutor] Jones also said that at one point Varsha Sabhnani, who is a Hindu, mocked the religion of Nona, who is Muslim, using an expletive and allegedly saying, “My God is better. Look what he gave me — four children.” The Sabhnanis’ children range in age from the late teens to 26.” http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-bzslav0518,0,1644346.story?coll=ny-entertainment-promo
But their single-minded greed is extraordinary even by Long Island Standards. http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3255663&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1 AFTER being arrested on the slavery charges, the husband, clearly on behalf of their joint business, “filed the trademark infringement lawsuit Friday in Brooklyn federal court. He claims his cologne, Attitude was ripped off by L’Oreal and its Armani division.”
Conveniently, they have two lavish homes, one in Long Island and one in Manhattan. Should liquidate for a nice chunk of change to pay out the civil damage awards to the victims, who can then return home quite wealthy.
That would be a good question to ask the owner of Smithfield Foods, and/or Tyson chicken.
20 million illegals and these idiots gotta have slaves.
The Horror The Horror. LOL
How foolist of you to think this is so funny by LOL!
Sucks to be them! They leave a, largely, third world Indonesia where theres little food to eat just to come to America and get just a little food to eat!
We can look into what happened to them 10 years from now (and see if they are still alive...)
The names sound distinctly Indian. But I could be wrong.
LMAO!
I thought it was Americans doing this wickedness!
Separated at birth possibly... snap, snap.
I have a feeling things are not the way the media is reporting it. We will find out.
I have a feeling things are not the way the media is reporting it. We will find out.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1838837/posts?page=29#29
And they live less than a half a mile away from me.
Being forced to eat 25 chili peppers at once isn’t really a laughing matter.
I’m wondering if there is any evidence to support the maid’s claims. Scalding water would leave a mark, no pun intended.
Could it be?
I wonder how much the lawyer representing the “slaves” is going to get, when the case ends in a settlement and all charges are dropped.
There was a recent trial about a couple in Colorado that had a slave. They got by with paying her for 4 years back wages at something like $12,000 a year. Don’t recall what became of the rape charges.
Even John Edwards doesn’t treat his slaves that bad.
Phlap, please disregard my earlier post. There sounds like plenty of evidence of abuse listed in this article.
Bless that man for helping her out. Thanks for posting the article, knuthom.
Ughh, lawyers :(
See post #17. Apparently there is physical evidence as to physical assault. I’m sure with all their money, the couple can wiggle out of the charges, but it’s gonna cost them big time. The maids probably won’t see much money.
God, why does John Edwards keep popping up in my head????
The idea behind using the word “slavery” in the charge instead of “abuse”, is to extract a higher settlement. ‘Abuse’ just does not have that effect. Can you imagine the reaction in the media if the “slave owners” in this case had been white, and the “slaves” god forbid, black , with everything else being the same ?
Living proof that by 50, you get the face you deserve.
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Home > News> May 17, 2007 > Full Story
NY Indian couple held for keeping maids as slaves
Thursday, May 17 2007 04:47(IST)
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Washington, May 17: A multimillionaire couple, who ran an international perfume business, were arrested by federal agents on charges of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves in their posh Long Island home in New York for the last several years, according to the Newsday, a prominent New York publication.
The couple, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, were accused of inflicting tortures on one of the Indonesian women, while threatening to have the other one’s family arrested in Indonesia if she did not obey orders, according to officials. The women had been hired as housekeepers.
Varsha, an Indonesian, is married to Mahender Murlidhar, an Indian.
The Sabhnanis were arraigned in a US District Court on charges under a federal anti-slavery laws of obtaining ‘’the labour and services of another person by use of threats of serious physical harm to and physical restraint against that person.’’ ‘’No one would ever think that human beings were being brought into the United States and held for slave labour, and beaten, and tortured in a beautiful mansion right here in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods on Long Island,’’ said federal prosecutor Demetri Jones yesterday, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant US Attorney Mark Lesko.
The Sabhnanis’ lawyers maintain that their clients are innocent.
Newsday quoting Jones and Lesko said one of the two Indonesian women was beaten by Varsha Sabhnani with a broomstick, cut behind the ears with a knife, burnt with scalding water, made to walk up and down stairs as much as 150 times in a row, and, at one point, was forced to eat ‘’25 extremely hot chili peppers.’’ The prosecutors submitted pictures showing what they said were the bruises and cuts inflicted on one of the women.
The reasons for the tortures included Varsha Sabhnani being unable to find an item of clothing or believing that the poorly fed women were stealing food, the prosecutors said. Her husband allowed the torture to go on and benefited from the household services of the women, according to Lesko.
The women were identified in court papers only as Samirah and Nona. The federal authorities and the police were called after Samirah, 51, was found wandering near a Dunkin’ Donuts shop around 0600 hrs (local time) on Mother’s Day, court papers said.
She later was questioned by agents working on the Federal Long Island Regional Human Trafficking Task Force with the aid of an Indonesian interpreter, Newsday report said.
Varsha Sabhnani’s attorney, Charles Ross of Manhattan, argued that his client should be released on bail because the case amounted only to a claim of assault based on the word of the two Indonesian women.
Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani’s attorney, Alexandra Tseitlin of Manhattan, asked that he be released on bail, saying her client had not been accused of torturing either of the women.
Magistrate Kathleen Tomlinson held both Sabhnanis without bail pending a hearing tomorrow. If convicted, each faces a sentence of between 17 to 22 years in prison.
OMG.
She’s 35 years old?
Looks like Michael Jackson.
Devil Woman
I don't know about here nationality, but she looks as though she drives an '07 Libman.
Drudge had a picture of the “wife” - she looked twice her age - maybe evil doesn’t wear well...
Yep, that is one ugly woman. Ugly on the inside, ugly on the outside...
“one of the two Indonesian women was beaten by Varsha Sabhnani with a broomstick”
right after varsha flew in on it....
I am in no way trying to dismiss the cruelty suffered by these poor maids, lord knows the suffering of Indonesian maids is infamous especially at the hands of their co-religionists in Saudi and Malaysia, but “forcing” an Indonesian to eat chilis is like “forcing” an Irishman to drink beer. They can’t get enough chilis, they eat them like western children eat candies.
When my Indonesian wife goes to my country she always has a bag of fresh chilis with her whenever we go to eat, she thinks western food is so bland. Unless they’re blinded with sweat and tears when they’re eating then they think the food dull and tasteless.
And as for sleeping on the floor, that’s where Indonesians always sleep! Beds are too hot and soft for them, stretched out on a cool concrete floor with their arm for a pillow is the favourite way Indonesians sleep.
I think they’re padding that bit for the civil claim, heck good luck to ‘em I say.
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