Rexford, NY -- An Albany-area woman will be forced to give up a 30,000 square foot mansion where she kept an illegal immigrant in slave-like servitude.
A federal appeals court ruled last week that the government could take possession of the 34-room mansion known as "Llenroc" overlooking the Mohawk River.That's where Annie George, widow of a former Indian actor and businessman, held an illegal immigrant as a domestic servant for 66 months. The victim, Valsamma Mathai, was forced to do housework and child care seven days a week from dawn until night. Prosecutors said she worked 17-hour days and was forced to live in a closet.
Mathai should have been paid a salary of $317,144, but George only paid her $21,000, the Albany Times-Union reported. Much of that money was sent back to her family in India.
When authorities came to Llenroc, George initially refused to talk to them. She put the victim in the basement and later pushed her out a side door, prosecutors said.
Later, George maintained at trial that she didn't know Mathai was in the country illegally.
George was convicted of harboring an illegal immigrant in 2013. Her punishment included forfeiting the mansion. That sentence was upheld by a federal appeals court last week.
Mathai originally came to the United States on a visa to work at the United Nations, but later came Upstate to care for the George family's properties. That violated the terms of her visa.
The mansion includes a helicopter pad, 15 fireplaces, an indoor swimming pool and ceilings gilded in 24-karat gold. It was built at a cost of $30 million but has since been sold for only a few million, the Times-Union reported.
George's lawyer has said that he believes a settlement will be reached allowing the family to remain in the mansion.
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