Beverly Hills Labor Contractor Charged in Human Trafficking Case

Beverly Hills-based farm labor recruiter Global Horizons Inc. is being sued by the federal government for allegedly forcing hundreds of Thai workers to harvest pineapples and coffee beans while living in rat-infested conditions on farms in Hawaii and Washington.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in class-action complaints filed Tuesday in federal courts in Washington and Hawaii that Global Horizons Inc. used national origin and race discrimination, harassment and retaliation in supplying about 260 Thai men to work on the farms.

“Once they arrived here in the United States, the story of abuse started,” EEOC attorney Anna Y. Park said at a downtown Los Angeles news conference.

The Thai workers harvested crops at six farms in Hawaii and two in Washington. The EEOC contends that at some of the farms, the workers were housed in rat- and insect-infested quarters, some of which had no beds. The agency also asserts that supervisors not only ignored abuses of the Thai workers, but participated in their mistreatment, intimidation, harassment and unequal pay.

The Thai workers were allegedly not allowed to leave the property, screamed at, threatened and beaten, and were kept away from non-Thai employees who appeared to be working under more tolerable conditions.

An email seeking comment from Global Horizons President Mordechai “Motty” Orian was not immediately returned, and the firm's telephones seemed not to be functioning. Orian was indicted in September in federal court in Honolulu on criminal charges related to a human trafficking conspiracy and is under electronic monitoring, according to officials.

The Thai Community Development Center in Los Angeles brought victims to the EEOC to file the lawsuit, Park said. The EEOC seeks back pay, compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the victims, as well as injunctive relief to prevent similar abuses.

This report was compiled with information from City News Service.

Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and "Like" us on Facebook.