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Feds dismiss largest US human trafficking case

HONOLULU, HI - A federal judge in Hawaii has dismissed a human trafficking case against executives and business associates of a labor recruiting company accused of exploiting hundreds of farm workers from Thailand.

The prosecution's request for dismissal was granted Friday in the case against the CEO and others affiliated with Los Angeles-based Global Horizons Manpower Inc. It was the U.S. government's largest-ever human trafficking case, involving about 600 Thai workers placed in U.S. farms.

The case was in jeopardy after federal prosecutors abruptly dropped similar accusations against owners of Hawaii's Aloun Farms last year.

The Aloun case prompted an investigation that found the government wouldn't be able to prove the charges against the defendants in the Global Horizons case.

Global Horizons' Honolulu attorney Michael Green calls the dismissal a "moral victory."