San Diego siblings sentenced for forced labor scheme involving cousin

SAN DIEGO (CNS) — A brother and sister who pleaded responsible to federal expenses for coercing their cousin to work lengthy hours at a pair of Rancho Bernardo salons the siblings owned have been sentenced to 3 months every in jail.

Cindy Mydung Luu, 55, and Jason Luu, 47, each of Tierrasanta, have been sentenced Monday in San Diego federal courtroom for bringing the sufferer from Vietnam to San Diego and forcing her to work lengthy hours at Eden Nails Lounge & Spa and Majestic Nail Salon, prosecutors stated.

The sufferer — recognized in courtroom paperwork solely as “LX” — was pressured to work as much as seven days per week, as much as 12 hours per day and was required to forfeit all of her revenue, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated.

After LX obtained her nail technician’s license, the defendants advised her to give up school and work full time on the salons, prosecutors stated.

The defendants additionally organized for her to participate in a sham marriage with Jason Luu so LX may develop into a authorized everlasting resident in the USA, then withheld her inexperienced card from her, in accordance with prosecutors, who acknowledged that the siblings then threatened LX with the lack of her immigration standing if she did not work on the salons.

In a protection sentencing memorandum, the Luus’ attorneys wrote that the sufferer sought the defendants’ assist in attending to the USA, and the Luus agreed to take her in and sponsored her schooling to earn her nail technician’s license. Her marriage to Jason helped her keep within the nation and helped Jason “fulfill his household’s expectation that he would quiet down and marry,” the lawyer wrote.

However although the Luus began out with “good intentions,” the protection attorneys wrote that the state of affairs “mushroomed into one thing untoward and worse. (The sufferer) needed to work an excessive amount of, was paid too little, and her actions have been managed, with the specter of sending her again to Vietnam.”

Along with custody, the pair have been ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution, in accordance with courtroom data.