Human trafficking: Nigerian couple ordered to pay enslaved nanny $121,000

A Nigerian couple, Chudy Nsobundu, 57, and his married woman Sandra Nsobundu, 49, living within the Houston-area of the united states has been ordered by an american court to pay $121,000 as restitution to the Nigerian lady who worked for twenty hours a day for 2 years as the nanny to their 5 children.

According to the news agency of Nigeria, (NAN), the naturalized U.S. citizens recruited the lady from Nigeria with the promise of a $100 monthly wage however the nanny wasn't paid throughout the period

Authorities said they abused her physically and verbally while she worked at their home in the Houston suburb of Katy from Sept 2013 to October 2015.

Court documents states that the nanny worked on a daily basis from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., couldn’t take breaks and had to eat leftovers and not fresh foods, as well as being forced to solely drink milk left in bowls in which the kids had consumed cereal. She also couldn’t take hot showers.

It was learnt that Nsobundus prevented the nanny from leaving their employment by keeping her passporthowever,the nanny reached out for help and was saved following a tip to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Her name has not been released.

Chudy Nsobundu in 2016 pleaded guilty to visa fraud while his wife pleaded guilty to unlawful conduct with respect to documents in furtherance of forced labor.

The Prosecutors said the couple knowingly caused a false visa application for the victim to be submitted to the Department of State with various items of false info.

The woman’s date of birth was incorrect on the application, listing her twenty years older than she was, said she was married when she wasn't, incorrectly indicated the aim of her travel was to attend a niece’s graduation and falsely known her in a letter that Chudy Nsobundu was her brother. Prosecutors also said he made false representations under oath on the visa application to extend the chances that the application would be accepted and to cover the fact she’d be working for his family as a maidservant and nanny under conditions that violated U.S. labor laws.


Federal prosecutors said Sandra Nsobundu took the nanny to the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, to obtain her visa and provided her with a letter indicating she didn’t speak English well, that she was to attend a family graduation and gave her an image of her husband with instructions that she tell embassy officers he was the nanny’s brother and that she was married. The nanny’s husband listed on the visa application actually was the Nsobundus’ driver in Nigeria.