A CHINESE woman in a wealthy Minneapolis suburb has been formally charged with labor trafficking, imprisonment and assault in connection with her employment of a nanny, also from China:

[A]ccording to authorities, hidden behind the white columns and red brick of Lili Huang’s $539,000 house on Wellington Lane was the most heinous of abuse.

The nanny, who has not been named, began working for the wealthy Huang family in Shanghai, where she took care of Huang’s minor daughter, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The Huangs treated her well in China, the nanny told authorities, so she agreed work for them in the United States.

Shortly after arriving in Minnesota in March, however, the nanny realized that her situation had radically shifted.

She had been promised $890 a month but now found herself working up to 18 hours a day cooking, cleaning and taking care of the Huangs’ child, according to the complaint. Her salary only came out to about $1.80 an hour, authorities later calculated, but she said she never even received that amount.

Instead of a fair wage, she received frequent beatings, she told police.

“During the time in the home she was physically assaulted by defendant, often times in front of the children,” Orput, the county prosecutor, said in a statement. “When this occurred she told defendant she wanted to return to China. Defendant acquired the victim’s passport and kept it and told the woman she was ‘not going anywhere.’”

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