A federal grand jury in Honolulu has indicted six people in what the FBI calls the largest human trafficking case ever charged in the US.
The six are accused of exploiting 400 Thai farm workers.
The indictment is the result of a two year FBI investigation.
And the FBI says all of the victims worked on Hawaii farms.
These are the names of the six people charged.
The first four were either arrested today or have made arrangements to surrender to the FBI.
Three live on the mainland, and the fourth lives in Kona.
The final two are residents of Thailand, and are considered to be fugitives.
"In the old day they used to keep slaves in line using chains and whips. Today's face of slavery is all about economic intimidation and threats, and that's what the accusation is in this case," said Tom Simon, FBI Special Agent.
The three men and three women named in the indictment were associated with "Global Horizons Manpower," a Los Angeles based company.
According to court documents, the company brought 400 Thai nationals to Hawaii between May 2004 and September 2005 with promises of high wages and good working conditions.
"And the accusation is when they got here, they were low wage jobs, their passports were taken from them and were told if they didn't continue to work their homes would be foreclosed on in Thailand and they would lose their family homes," said Simon.
Investigators say "Global Horizons Manpower" provided the workers to farms on a temporary basis.
"The indictment alleges there are some farms on the West Coast of the mainland that are involved however all 400 of the victims we allege in the indictment did cycle through Hawaii farms," said Simon.
14 farms on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island -- including Maui Pineapple Farm, which is no longer in business, and Aloun Farms -- the owners of which are scheduled to be sentenced next month in a case with similar circumstances.
"There is overlapping conduct in it but you should look at the Aloun farms case and this indictment as two totally separate legal entities," said Simon.
None of the 14 Hawaii farms were charged in this latest indictment.
The FBI is still investigating whether they knew about the forced labor conditions.
As for the 400 victims --
"Some of the victims are back in Thailand, some remain in hawaii others are on the US mainland all the ones we could identify still here in the us are receiving social services as we speak," said Simon.
The first court appearance in this case is scheduled for next Tuesday at federal court.
