18 U.S.C. § 1589 — Forced labor

(a) Anyone who knowingly gets or provides a person's labor or services by force, threats, physical restraint or threats of restraint, serious harm or threats of serious harm, misuse or threatened misuse of law or legal process, or a plan intended to make the person believe that refusal would cause serious harm or restraint, is punished under (d).

(b) Anyone who knowingly gains money or anything valuable from taking part in a venture that uses those methods, while knowing or recklessly ignoring that fact, is punished under (d).

(c) “Abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process” means using or threatening to use an administrative, civil, or criminal law or legal process for a purpose or in a way the law was not designed for, to pressure someone to act or not act. “Serious harm” means physical or nonphysical harm, including psychological, financial, or reputation harm, serious enough in all the circumstances to make a reasonable person of the same background and circumstances work or keep working to avoid it. This section does not otherwise define those quoted terms.

(d) A violation is punishable by a fine, up to 20 years in prison, or both. If death results, or the offense includes kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, or attempted killing, the punishment is a fine, any term of years or life imprisonment, or both.