Federal authorities are moving to seize three properties used in a Chinese slave labor scheme.
The New York Post reports prosecutors in Brooklyn want to confiscate a Manhattan office building, a Long Island mansion, and a Jersey City townhouse.
Back in November 2019, a judge sentenced Dan Zhong to 190 months in jail after a federal jury convicted him of luring laborers from China and forcing them to work for years without pay under the threat of physical harm, reported Bloomberg Law.
Zhong ran the US operations for U.S. operations for the Chinese Liaoning Rilin Construction Co. Ltd.
Authorities say he used the forced labor to construct a 14-story property on Fifth Avenue; a $10 million building in Old Brookville; and a project for Zhong’s friends.
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“Mr. Zhong, a former long-time PRC diplomat, oppressed and coerced Chinese construction workers in New York, forcing some to work for years without pay under the threat of physical harm and financial ruin,” Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in the statement. “Zhong will now pay a heavy price for those crimes.”
The buildings prosecutors want to confiscate were used to both house and imprison the laborers who were prevented from leaving by the use of deadbolts.
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