Execs indicted for employing illegal immigrants

Federal authorities have accused three cleaning company executives of pocketing more than $18.6 million in unpaid taxes collected from employing hundreds of illegal immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and Haiti, according to an indictment CNN obtained Thursday.

The money was placed by the three Rosenbaum Cunningham International executives into “shell companies,” and then was used to purchase such “extravagant” items as beach homes and racehorses, the document stated.

RCI Inc.’s president, vice president and controller were arrested along with 200 of the Florida-based company’s employees in a recent sweep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the assistant secretary of homeland security for ICE, Julie Myers, announced at a news conference.

A message on the company’s voicemail said that “RCI has ceased operations as of February 22, 2007.”

The employees were arrested in 17 states and the District of Columbia late Wednesday into Thursday as they were starting or leaving their shifts, Myers said.

They face various immigration violations and could be deported, she said.

The sweep stems from a 20-month investigation by ICE agents sparked by the arrest of an illegal alien in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Myers said.

The executives will be charged with 23 counts, including conspiracy to defraud and harboring illegal immigrants.

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Execs indicted for employing illegal immigrants
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