1. Justice for
Trafficking Victims
in the United States
{
THISTLE FARMS
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
October 15, 2013
Martina E. Vandenberg
THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING
PRO BONO LEGAL CENTER

2. July 2013

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Agriculture
Begging/panhandling
Construction
Criminal activity
Domestic work
Factory work
Nail salons
Fishing industry
Sheepherding
Dry Cleaner
Nursing
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Landscaping services
Forced marriage
Hotel or Motel
Janitorial Services
Restaurants
Sex industry
Hair-braiding Salons
Teaching
Bridal Shop
Trafficking can occur in any labor sector or industry.

4. Virginia

5. New Jersey

6. Arizona

8. In November 2010, two Boca Raton residents pled
guilty to holding 39 Filipino workers in forced labor in
local country clubs.

9. U.S. Government Prosecutions
Source: The Attorney General’s Annual Report to Congress and
Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in
Persons, FY 2010

10. U.S. Government Prosecutions
Source: The Attorney General’s Annual Report to Congress and
Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in
Persons, FY 2011

11. U.S. Government Prosecutions
2012
Total Federal Prosecutions in United States Initiated for
Forced Labor and Adult Sex Trafficking: 55
Total Federal Prosecutions in the United States Initiated for
Child Sex Trafficking: 73
Total Federal Trafficking Cases
Prosecuted in 2012:
128
Source: The Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report June
2013, U.S. Chapter Report

12. ILO
2012 Global Estimate:
20.9 million
State-imposed Forced Labor: 2.2 million
Forced Labor for sexual exploitation: 4.5 million
Forced Labor for labor exploitation: 14.2 million

13. {
Source: Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report, 2013

14. Since 2000,
• foreign victims
trafficked to the
United States
received immigration
legal services;
• U.S. citizen and LPR
victims received no
legal services.

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In FY 2010, the U.S.
Government issued 447
T-visas to trafficking
victims.
In FY 2011, the U.S.
Government issued 557
T-visas to trafficking
victims.
In FY 2012, the U.S.
Government issued 674
T-visas to trafficking
victims.
There are 5,000
available each year.

16. Justice for Trafficking
Victims:
• Criminal Restitution
• Civil Judgment

17. First Question:
Is there a federal criminal case?

18. U.S. v. Sabhnani, et al.
Long Island, New York
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A victim was found in a Dunkin’ Donuts store in Syosset,
New York, wearing rags and with open wounds behind her
ears.
ICE obtained a search warrant and found a second victim
hiding in a closet under the basement stairs in the
defendants’ $2 million home.
The two women, both from Indonesia, had been held in the
defendants’ home, one for five years, the second for two
years.
Both defendants convicted on forced labor and related
conspiracy charges.
Source: Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Press Release

19. •Mrs. Varsha Sabhnani
sentenced to 11 years
imprisonment.
•Mr. Mahender Sabhnani
sentenced to 3 1/3 years
imprisonment.
•Defendants were ordered
to pay $936,546.22 in
criminal restitution.

20. When the U.S. Government
brings a trafficking
prosecution under the
TVPRA,
Criminal Restitution
is mandatory under
18 U.S.C. 1593

21. Definition of “full amount of the victim’s
losses” under TVPRA, 18 U.S.C. 1593
…the term “full amount of the victim’s losses”
… shall in addition include the greater of the
gross income or value to the defendant of
the victim’s services or labor or the value
of the victim’s labor as guaranteed under the
minimum wage and overtime guarantees of the
Fair Labor Standards Act.

22. Definition of “full amount of the victim’s losses”
under
TVPRA, 18 U.S.C. 1593:
Definition.— For purposes of this subsection, the term “full amount of
the victim’s losses” includes any costs incurred by the victim for—
(A) medical services relating to physical, psychiatric, or psychological
care;
(B) physical and occupational therapy or rehabilitation;
(C) necessary transportation, temporary housing, and child care
expenses;
(D) lost income;
(E) attorneys’ fees, as well as other costs incurred; and
(F) any other losses suffered by the victim as a proximate result of the
offense.

23. U.S. v. Dennis Paris, et al.
Criminal No. 3:06CR64(CFD)
District of Connecticut
• Defendants trafficked young women and girls into forced
prostitution over a five-year period;
• The youngest trafficking victim was 14;
• One trafficker sold two women to another trafficker for
$1,200;
• Ten defendants indicted in a 64-count indictment, including
child sex trafficking charges;

24. Restitution in Sex Trafficking Cases
U.S. v. Paris
U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
Criminal No. 3:06CR64(CFD)
Nine of ten defendants pled guilty;
• Paris convicted to trafficking under 1591 and
sentenced to 30 years (360 months) incarceration, 5
years of supervised release; and
• Paris ordered to pay $46,116 in restitution to victims.
But one victim estimated that she had earned more than
$1 million.
•

25. Second Question:
What if the defendants plead guilty
to a lesser charge?

26. ANSWER:
Get Restitution under the TVPRA
Criminal Restitution Law

27. U.S. v. Bakilana
U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of Virginia
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Defendant, a World Bank employee, allowed to plead
guilty to lying to the FBI;
The plea agreement included $41,000 in restitution for
back wages;
Prepayment required into an escrow account before
sentencing complete.

28. U.S. v. Edwards
011-CR-0316, District of Maryland, Greenbelt
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Defendants pled guilty to alien
harboring;
Paid $50,000 into escrow account before
sentencing;
Court held two-day sentencing hearing;
Liquidated damages for unpaid wages
included in restitution order;
Restitution paid under 18 USC §1593.

29. United States v. Alexander, et al.
3:10-cr-5435 (2010)
Western District of Washington
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Three defendants indicted under 18 U.S.C.
1591(sex trafficking of a child under 18);
Alexander pled guilty and was sentenced to 108
months imprisonment, three years supervised
release, and ordered to pay $130,000 in restitution;
Prosecutors had requested $260,000 in restitution;
A second victim was awarded $7,000 in restitution;
A third victim received no restitution.

30. Mandatory Criminal Restitution
Advocacy under 18 U.S.C. §1593
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Maximize the criminal restitution order;
Use experts on wage rates and the victims’ “losses”;
Calculate the value to the defendant of the victim’s
forced labor or services;
Invoke IRS Notice 12-2012;
Insist that plea agreements include restitution order;
Make sentencing contingent upon pre-payment into
an escrow account;
Argue to include liquidated damages in forced labor
wage calculations.

31. Third Question:
What if the prosecutors drop
the criminal case?

32. ANSWER:
File a federal civil law suit against the
traffickers under the TVPRA
18 USC §1595

33. Trafficking victims have a
federal private right of action.

34. Private Right of Action:18 U.S.C. §1595
(a) An individual who is a victim of a violation of this chapter may
bring a civil action against the perpetrator (or whoever knowingly
benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value from
participation in a venture which that person knew or should have
known has engaged in an act in violation of this chapter) in an
appropriate district court of the United States and may recover
damages and reasonable attorneys fees.
(b)
(1) Any civil action filed under this section shall be stayed during the
pendency of any criminal action arising out of the same occurrence in
which the claimant is the victim.
(2) In this subsection, a “criminal action” includes investigation and
prosecution and is pending until final adjudication in the trial court.
(c) No action may be maintained under this section unless it is
commenced not later than 10 years after the cause of action arose.
***Original statute passed in 2003, as amended.

35. Only 99 federal civil cases filed
under
18 U.S.C. 1595 since 2003
TVPRA Amendments

36. Trafficking Civil Cases
Sex
Trafficking
(4 cases)
3%
Forced Labor
(95 cases)
97%
Source: The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center

37. Outcomes in 99 Federal Civil Cases under
18 U.S.C. 1595
9%
Voluntarily
Dismissed (9)
9%
Settled (35)
Judgment for
Plaintiff (6)
32%
36%
Default Judgment
(8)
Ongoing (32)
8%
6%
Source: The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center
Dismissed or
Judgment for
Defendant (9)

38. Case
Facts
Aguilar v. Imperial
Nurseries, 2008 WL
2572250 (D. Conn. May
28, 2008)
Twelve Guatemalan plaintiffs
obtained lawful visas to work
planting in North Carolina, but
instead transported to
Connecticut, forced to work at tree
nursery for 78 hours a week and
little pay. Passports confiscated and
travel restricted--threatened with
arrest, imprisonment, and
deportation.
Mazengo v. Mzengi, No. 07756 (D.D.C. 2008)
Passport confiscated, forced to cook
meals, clean, do laundry, and care
for children. Forced to cook food for
catering company. Cut off from
contact with outside world.
Threatened and never paid.
Pena Canal v. de la Rose
Dann, 2010 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 97856 (N.D. Cal.
Sept. 2, 2010)
Peruvian Plaintiff promised high
wage and private living space for
housework. Instead had passport
confiscated, threatened with
deportation, worked 15 hours/day 7
days/wk cleaning, caring for three
children, cooking, and cleaning
houses for defendant's real estate
business. Forced to sleep on living
room floor and kept from
communicating with family in Peru.
Duration of Labor
Judgment
3 Months
$3,000/day Compensatory (Forced
Labor)
$6,000/day Punitive
$300,000 Trafficking Damages Total
Awards Range from $371,000 to
$827,000 per person
4 Years
$510,249.21 in treble damages under
the Maryland Wage and Hour Law;
$45,101.69 in compensatory damages
for unjust enrichment;
$19,961.64 in compensatory damages
for fraudulent inducement;
$250,000.00 in compensatory damages
for emotional distress; $150,000.00 in
punitive damages; $84,036.25 in
attorney’s fees
Total Award = $1,059,348.79
1 Year, 9 Months
Assumed hourly wage of $23.70.
$340,746.75 wages (increased by labor
code penalties; reduced by criminal
restitution order of $123,740.34)
$92,400 emotional distress
$309,406.41 punitive
Total Award = $618,812.82

39. Pioneering Areas of Pro Bono
Representation of Trafficking Victims:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Representation in Criminal Cases
Vacatur and Expungement
Civil Litigation under 18 USC 1595
Sex Trafficking Civil Litigation
Enforcement of Criminal Restitution
Orders
6. Tax Advice and Financial Literacy
Training
7. Litigation against Diplomats

40. Why Do A Civil Trafficking Suit?
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Provides an opportunity for a
trafficking survivor to regain control
over his/her life;
Provides an opportunity to collect all
damages, not just those permitted
under the federal restitution statute;
Provides a trafficking survivor with a
day in court where the government
does not bring criminal case;
Provides an opportunity to hold
unindicted perpetrators and coconspirators accountable;
Creates a financial deterrent for
traffickers; and
Provides economic independence to
survivors of human trafficking.

41. Martina E. Vandenberg
President
The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal
Center
Tel: 202-716-8485
mvandenberg@htprobono.org
www.tahirih.org/htprobono/

42. Questions?