Commentary

Dispatch from Springfield, Ohio, Part II – In reporting for the Pearl Project, a nonprofit initiative for independent journalism, I have learned that federal and state investigations into alleged human trafficking of Haitian workers by First Diversity Staffing Company LLC in Springfield, Ohio, have widened to include the alleged theft of Social Security numbers and the identities of American citizens, along with wage, tax and immigration fraud. Over the past five years, I’ve also learned, local businessman George Ten, nicknamed “King George,” transformed First Diversity into an empire with an estimated $180 million in gross revenues, in a business strategy the company called “Springfieldopoly.” According to sources, Springfield’s city planner, Bryan Heck, was warned as far back as 2019 that George was using First Diversity to allegedly traffic Haitian migrant workers from Florida to Ohio in a corrupt scheme that profits off the desperate. Heck said he doesn’t remember such a meeting. In a charm offensive, George and his top leaders invited me into their offices, where they have a room they call the “Monopoly Room.” They deny any wrongdoing. From Florida to Ohio, this story unravels a web of broken promises, false hope and the brutal reality behind the illusion of economic growth and opportunity that confronts migrant workers and small towns nationwide. Indeed, King George’s company undergirds not only Springfield’s shadow economy, but also America’s, benefiting the elite but doing little for the nation’s most vulnerable, new arrivals and old. Stay tuned for Part III of my investigation.