A New Jersey man and two associates were criminally charged Wednesday for their role operating a tobacco-processing empire in the heart of Brooklyn, with prosecutors alleging they failed to pay two dozen immigrant workers — most of them middle-aged mothers from Ecuador — hundreds of thousands of dollars in owed wages and made them work under illegally hazardous conditions.

The allegations were outlined in a 74-count indictment unveiled by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez against HotHead Grabba LLC, its owner Hunter Segree, 28, and two of his associates, who were arraigned in Kings County Supreme Court on charges of grand larceny, falsifying business records, state labor law violations and other charges.

The three men and the company were also hit with charges of reckless endangerment tied to the sweatshop-like conditions that workers endured stripping 15 pounds of tobacco by hand during shifts that lasted 12 or more hours a day, six or seven days a week. The loose tobacco sold by the brand is offered in dozens of bodegas across the city and region.

In all, the defendants are alleged to have withheld $310,000 in unpaid wages from 25 workers between October 2022 and July 2024. The sprawling investigation was headed by the Brooklyn district attorney’s fraud bureau, with assistance from the state Department of Labor, Workers Compensation Board and Inspector General.

“We allege that these defendants operated a business that profited by systematically underpaying their employees, denying them basic protections, and exposing them to hazardous and degrading conditions,” Gonzalez said in a statement. 

“These serious charges send a strong message that this kind of exploitation will not be tolerated in Brooklyn, and we will continue to use every available tool to hold unscrupulous employers able and seek restitution for workers,” he added.

Segree, HotHead Grabba’s owner, and two managers, Isayed Rojas of Staten Island and Joshua Howard of Queens, were arrested and arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Danny K. Chun Wednesday afternoon. 

The trio all pleaded not guilty and agreed to surrender their ports due to what prosecutors described as their “considerable assets” and flight risk. Prosecutors told Chun that the three are alleged to have made “several millions of dollars” in revenue from the business. They were released without bail and are due back in court on Aug. 13.

The sweatshop first spilled into public view in a February 2024 exposé by THE CITY. Four women who worked at a HotHead Grabba facility in Cypress Hills said they endured health issues triggered by their long work shifts stripping tobacco in an enclosed space, including dizziness, fainting, fatigue and nausea. They said their supervisors often threatened to report them to immigration authorities when they brought up their unpaid wages.

The four women submitted complaints to the state Department of Labor alleging a collective $65,000 in unpaid wages and overtime. Months later, two brothers submitted similar claims regarding a second HotHead Grabba facility in Ozone Park, Queens, where they ground and packaged the tobacco.

Local, state and federal investigators all probed the sweatshop in the past year in response to whistleblower complaints. In September, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health istration slapped HotHead Grabba with more than $91,000 in proposed fines, in an investigation that is ongoing.

HotHead Grabba was also probed by the state Workers Compensation Board and the federal labor board in recent months in connection with the Cypress Hills shop. Last March, the state issued a temporary stop work order for failure to have workers compensation insurance; in that period, HotHead moved those operations to a location in Springfield Gardens, Queens, records show.

And in September, the federal National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to cease and desist from threatening to fire employees who complain about nonpayment and ordered Segree to reinstate the fired worker who submitted the complaint to the board.

Correction: A previous version of this story mislabeled names in photo captions.