Swiss court clears 4 members of billionaire Hinduja family of human trafficking charges

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss criminal court has cleared four members of a billionaire family of charges that they engaged in illegal human trafficking of their servants mostly illiterate Indians who were employed at their luxurious lakeside villa in Geneva. But the court on Friday convicted Indian-born tycoon Prakash Hinduja and his wife, son and daughter-in-law on lesser charges. The court said the four were guilty of exploiting workers and providing unauthorized employment.  No sentence has been issued yet. The court threw out charges of human trafficking on the grounds that staff understood what they were getting into. None of the family members were present in court for the verdict.