A former student of the Family Foundation School in New York has alleged that students were exposed to horrific abuse at the institution, including being forced to dig their own graves, reportedly being strip-searched, and locked in closets.
High costs and extreme disciplinary measures
The survivor has filed the claims in court, wherein he alleged that he was repeatedly sexually abused at the facility that charged $80,000 (around Rs 75 lakh) a year, located in the village of Hancock, Binghamton, the New York Post reported.
The accused are yet to formally respond to these accusations.
According to the $10 million lawsuit filed by the ex-student of the school in Brooklyn federal court, the students were allegedly “encased” in rugs bound with duct tape, and were forced to eat their own vomit. The students were asked to dig their own graves and lie down in them after being physically abused.
Exploitation and forced labour details
The court papers stated that students were strip-searched upon their arrival at the facility, forced into “sexualised group sessions” with teachers, and the pupils were asked to work like slaves in order “to benefit the Argiros family,” who ran the boarding school, the New York Post stated.
The work carried out by students allegedly included “digging excavation trenches on the Argiros family estate; shoveling snow to maintain the Argiros family estate; cleaning waste from the Argiros family’s pig pens and farm animal enclosures; [and] performing construction labor on the Argiros family’s private residence,” court documents read.
Claims of local influence and inaction
The former student claimed that kids were asked to prepare food and clean the house of Argiros family, while stating that reports of abuse were ignored by local authorities reportedly because of the “influence” of owners Michael and Cindy Argiros, who are the owners of several properties in the region.
Story continues below this ad
Deceptive recruitment and guardianship tactics
The victim accused the Family Foundation School of recruiting children through fraudulent means, and of convincing the families to hand over the legal guardianship of their kids to Argiros.
