Moroccan Diplomat’s Ex-Wife Arrested in NYC for Alleged Filipino Worker Exploitation

Filipinos left their country and their families to go to New York, with contracts stating that they would work in the Moroccan consulate. But only a domestic job in the residence of one of the Moroccan consular officials was reserved for them. And they endured this for more than ten years...

The two defendants in this story are the ex-wife of the diplomat, named Maria Luisa Estrella Jaidi, and her brother, Ramon Singson Estrella. The ex-wife was arrested, her brother is still on the run. According to the American site Justice.gov, which talks, among other things, about visa fraud through false statements: "the defendants abused the process of admitting consular officials to our country in order to bring in domestic workers guaranteeing them a financial gain and a comfortable lifestyle. In addition, Maria Luisa Estrella Jaidi exploited these workers by not providing them with the necessary protections and benefits to which they would have been entitled if they had been properly brought to the United States with the appropriate visas".

In the false employment contracts issued by the two accomplices, the salaries of the domestic employees were inflated. And the working hours reduced. Not to mention the other benefits: sick leave, dental insurance and health insurance... Falsely guaranteed.

The ex-wife (they were married between 1980 and 2016) and her husband (not prosecuted in this case) used the Filipinos as personal drivers, domestic helpers, farm workers and assistants in their Bronxville (New York) residences and their Ancramdale (New York) farm. According to the same site: "They paid the domestic workers a significantly lower amount than the minimum wage required by law and regularly forced them to work more than 40 hours a week. In addition, they generally denied the domestic workers the benefits outlined in their employment contracts, forced them to work seven days a week and forced them to return their passports".