Two Florida men have been indicted by a federal grand jury for harboring illegal aliens working for their labor leasing businesses in Branson, Mo.

Martin Ghambaryan, 29, and Mikayel V. Abrahamyan, 34, both of whom are Armenian nationals and legal permanent residents of the United States residing in Delray Beach, Fla., were charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, July 8, 2015.

Ghambaryan incorporated MGM Union, LLC, in Missouri in 2008 and Abrahamyan incorporated Seasonal Labor Solutions, LLC, in Missouri in 2009. Both businesses have Branson addresses. According to Monday’s indictment, Ghambaryan and Abrahamyan allowed other persons to assert de facto control over those businesses and operate them as labor leasing companies that supplied workers to various businesses in and around the Branson area, such as hotels, restaurants, golf courses and entertainment venues.

The federal indictment alleges that Ghambaryan and Abrahamyan, knowingly and in reckless disregard of the fact that aliens were in the United States in violation of law, concealed, harbored, and shielded numerous illegal aliens from detection. The indictment alleges Ghambaryan and Abrahamyan conspired with, and aided and abetted, the de facto operators of MGM and Seasonal Labor Solutions to harbor those illegal aliens and conceal them from detection.

 

According to the indictment, workers often ended up owing large debts to the operators of MGM and Seasonal Labor Solutions, which were then deducted from the workers’ paychecks, leaving the workers with minimal take home pay.