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New York Millionaires on Trial for Slavery

By FRANK ELTMAN,
AP
Posted: 2007-10-30 11:53:42
Filed Under: Crime News, Nation News
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (Oct. 29) -- A pair of Indonesian women brought to the United States to work as housekeepers were starved, deprived of sleep and repeatedly stabbed and beaten by a millionaire couple, prosecutors said Monday at the couple's trial.

Photo Gallery: Housekeepers Held Captive

James Carbone, Newsday / AP

Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, arrive at court in October. They were convicted Monday of enslaving two women who were housekeepers in their Muttontown, N.Y., mansion.

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Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, have pleaded not guilty to a 12-count federal indictment accusing them of conspiracy, involuntary servitude and other charges.

Prosecutors allege the couple held the women as virtual slaves, subjecting them to serious physical abuse and paying them no wages except for $100 a month sent to relatives abroad.

Defense lawyers suggested in their opening statements that the charges were the result of a series of misunderstandings, and said there were other explanations for some of the accusations.

The pair was arrested in May after one of the servants, wearing only pants and a towel, was found wandering outside a doughnut shop on the north shore of Long Island, pleading for help. Authorities concluded the servant escaped from the Sabhnanis' nearby home when she took out the trash.

"They were brought to the United States to work as house servants, but they weren't treated like house servants," Assistant U.S. Attorney Demetri Jones said in her opening statement.

The women were slashed with a knife and made to climb stairs repeatedly as punishment for various misdeeds, the indictment says. One victim was forced to consume hot chili peppers and later had to eat her own vomit after the peppers made her sick, prosecutors said.

Stephen Scaring, who represents Mahender Sabhnani, said there is no evidence either woman was ever abused by his client, "nor did they ever complain to Mahender that they were being abused."

One of the servants came to Long Island in 2002; the second in 2005. Prosecutors say the Sabhnanis confiscated their passports.

Varsha Sabhnani is originally from Indonesia and her husband is from India; both are U.S. citizens.

If convicted, the Sabhnanis, who have four children and run a perfume business in their home, could face as much as 40 years in prison.

They are free on $4.5 million bail but under house arrest, personally paying an estimated $10,000 a day for 24-hour security surveillance as part of the bail agreement.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-10-30 06:42:14
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Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 710
710 comments

theyocatmann 06:55:25 AM Nov 04 2007

If convicted, will they be aggravated felones and deported ??

ktcllrn 07:02:00 PM Nov 03 2007

I think that having a slave would be fun....start in the bathroom..plz

usforjustice 01:05:01 PM Nov 03 2007

Check out what's really going on within our criminal justice system at: www.justiceforus.org

shaw3247 09:05:00 AM Nov 02 2007

ABLACKVOICE1 10:17:54 PM Oct 31 2007

Report This! They look WHITE to me.

NOW THAT WASN'T VERY NICE NOW WAS IT? OPEN UP YOUR BRAIN AND
MAYBE LOOK AGAIN AND THEN READ THEIR NAMES AND WHERE THEY CAME FROM. IT MAY HELP CHANGE THE HUE YOU INSIST THAT YOU SEE. IF ANYTHING, IT SHOULD HELP SHED THE CORRECT LIGHT ON THINGS. THE ONE THAT ISN'T A LAUGHING MATTER.

shaw3247 08:52:00 AM Nov 02 2007

OF COURSE THEY DENY IT, THEY DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO BELEIVE IT'S WHAT THEY ARE. A SLAVERY CRIME IN THE US ISN'T TOO COMMON. OF COURSE WHO CAN FORGET THAT EVIL WOMAN SANTE KIMES WHO WAS FOUND GUILTY FOR HUMAN SLAVERY HERE. IF I RECALL, KIMES WAS THE VERY FIRST PERSON EVER CHARGED IN THE UNITED STATES AND WAS FOUND GUILTY AND CONVICTED FOR THAT CRIME. IT WAS THE FIRST SLAVERY CRIME IN OUR HISTORY, SANTE KIMES WAS. AN DERANGED WOMAN IS SANTE KIMES, A MURDERING SCHEMING PSYCHOPATHIC MONSTER. WASN'T LEONA HELMSLY CHARGED AND CONVICTED OF A HUMAN SLAVERY CHARGE. OR WAS IT THAT SHE HAD RAT INFESTED APARTMENTS THAT WERE NEARLY CONDEMED?

garre9j 09:29:00 PM Nov 01 2007

These two should be awarded all the money this couple possesses

dentusa2 06:30:48 PM Nov 01 2007

they are just doing what bush and cheny say is ok torture impeach bush cheny stop the bleeding

ABLACKVOICE1 10:17:00 PM Oct 31 2007

They look WHITE to me.

dradjs6769 09:52:17 AM Oct 31 2007

They both a sick people !

Stpwheeler101 08:11:00 AM Oct 31 2007

Perhaps when they immigrated here no one told them slavery was illegal in this country.

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